i2c_smbus_read_word_data(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

🌸 i2c_smbus_read_word_data(9) 🌸

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual 💖 this one's about i2c_smbus_read_word_data, and it's genuinely so straightforward you're gonna slay it.

✨ NAME ✨

i2c_smbus_read_word_data — the SMBus "read word" protocol, that's it, that's the whole vibe 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

s32 i2c_smbus_read_word_data (const struct i2c_client *client , u8
command );

like literally one call, no cap 🔥

✨ ARGUMENTS ✨

  • client — the handle to your slave device 🫶 it's the const struct i2c_client *, y'know, the whole connection moment
  • command — a u8 byte, and it's interpreted by the slave. not by us. we just hand it over, main character energy 💅

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so here's what happens: this bad boy executes the SMBus "read word" protocol 🌈 and it returns negative errno if something goes sideways 😭 — otherwise you get a 16-bit unsigned "word" that the device sent back to you. sixteen whole bits of data, we love to see it 💜

heads up: negative return = errno, not data. don't be out here reading error codes as words, bestie 🙈

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

the kernel file lives at ./drivers/i2c/i2c-core-smbus.c btw, iykyk 👑

aaaand that's the page, bestie 🦋 go read some words off a slave device, periodt ✨

💖 sign-off time 💖 — this whole thing comes from ./drivers/i2c, dated October 2026, and it's the i2c_smbus_read_word_data(9) page from the Kernel API Manual. mwah, go forth and i2c 🎀

📦 where this page comes from