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-rw-r--r--lib/kernel/doc/src/os.xml414
1 files changed, 301 insertions, 113 deletions
diff --git a/lib/kernel/doc/src/os.xml b/lib/kernel/doc/src/os.xml
index 682d4a2eac..c95e615c6b 100644
--- a/lib/kernel/doc/src/os.xml
+++ b/lib/kernel/doc/src/os.xml
@@ -4,14 +4,14 @@
<erlref>
<header>
<copyright>
- <year>1997</year><year>2013</year>
+ <year>1997</year><year>2018</year>
<holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
</copyright>
<legalnotice>
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
+
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
-
+
</legalnotice>
<title>os</title>
@@ -29,97 +29,219 @@
<rev></rev>
</header>
<module>os</module>
- <modulesummary>Operating System Specific Functions</modulesummary>
+ <modulesummary>Operating system-specific functions.</modulesummary>
<description>
- <p>The functions in this module are operating system specific.
- Careless use of these functions will result in programs that will
+ <p>The functions in this module are operating system-specific.
+ Careless use of these functions results in programs that will
only run on a specific platform. On the other hand, with careful
- use these functions can be of help in enabling a program to run on
+ use, these functions can be of help in enabling a program to run on
most platforms.</p>
+
+ <note>
+ <p>
+ File operations used to accept filenames containing
+ null characters (integer value zero). This caused
+ the name to be truncated and in some cases arguments
+ to primitive operations to be mixed up. Filenames
+ containing null characters inside the filename
+ are now <em>rejected</em> and will cause primitive
+ file operations to fail.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Also environment variable operations used to accept
+ names and values of environment variables containing
+ null characters (integer value zero). This caused
+ operations to silently produce erroneous results.
+ Environment variable names and values containing
+ null characters inside the name or value are now
+ <em>rejected</em> and will cause environment variable
+ operations to fail.
+ </p>
+ </note>
</description>
+
+ <datatypes>
+ <datatype>
+ <name name="env_var_name"/>
+ <desc>
+ <p>A string containing valid characters on the specific
+ OS for environment variable names using
+ <seealso marker="file#native_name_encoding/0"><c>file:native_name_encoding()</c></seealso>
+ encoding. Note that specifically null characters (integer
+ value zero) and <c>$=</c> characters are not allowed.
+ However, note that not all invalid characters necessarily
+ will cause the primitiv operations to fail, but may instead
+ produce invalid results.
+ </p>
+ </desc>
+ </datatype>
+ <datatype>
+ <name name="env_var_value"/>
+ <desc>
+ <p>A string containing valid characters on the specific
+ OS for environment variable values using
+ <seealso marker="file#native_name_encoding/0"><c>file:native_name_encoding()</c></seealso>
+ encoding. Note that specifically null characters (integer
+ value zero) are not allowed. However, note that not all
+ invalid characters necessarily will cause the primitiv
+ operations to fail, but may instead produce invalid results.
+ </p>
+ </desc>
+ </datatype>
+ <datatype>
+ <name name="env_var_name_value"/>
+ <desc>
+ <p>
+ Assuming that environment variables has been correctly
+ set, a strings containing valid characters on the specific
+ OS for environment variable names and values using
+ <seealso marker="file#native_name_encoding/0"><c>file:native_name_encoding()</c></seealso>
+ encoding. The first <c>$=</c> characters appearing in
+ the string separates environment variable name (on the
+ left) from environment variable value (on the right).
+ </p>
+ </desc>
+ </datatype>
+ <datatype>
+ <name name="os_command"/>
+ <desc>
+ <p>All characters needs to be valid characters on the
+ specific OS using
+ <seealso marker="file#native_name_encoding/0"><c>file:native_name_encoding()</c></seealso>
+ encoding. Note that specifically null characters (integer
+ value zero) are not allowed. However, note that not all
+ invalid characters not necessarily will cause
+ <seealso marker="#cmd/1"><c>os:cmd/1</c></seealso>
+ to fail, but may instead produce invalid results.
+ </p>
+ </desc>
+ </datatype>
+ <datatype>
+ <name name="os_command_opts"/>
+ <desc>
+ <p>Options for <seealso marker="#cmd/2"><c>os:cmd/2</c></seealso></p>
+ <taglist>
+ <tag><c>max_size</c></tag>
+ <item>
+ <p>The maximum size of the data returned by the <c>os:cmd</c> call.
+ See the <seealso marker="#cmd/2"><c>os:cmd/2</c></seealso>
+ documentation for more details.</p>
+ </item>
+ </taglist>
+ </desc>
+ </datatype>
+ </datatypes>
+
<funcs>
<func>
<name name="cmd" arity="1"/>
- <fsummary>Execute a command in a shell of the target OS</fsummary>
+ <name name="cmd" arity="2"/>
+ <fsummary>Execute a command in a shell of the target OS.</fsummary>
<desc>
- <p>Executes <c><anno>Command</anno></c> in a command shell of the target OS,
- captures the standard output of the command and returns this
- result as a string. This function is a replacement of
- the previous <c>unix:cmd/1</c>; on a Unix platform they are
- equivalent.</p>
- <p>Examples:</p>
+ <p>Executes <c><anno>Command</anno></c> in a command shell of the
+ target OS, captures the standard output of the command,
+ and returns this result as a string.</p>
+ <warning><p>Previous implementation used to allow all characters
+ as long as they were integer values greater than or equal to zero.
+ This sometimes lead to unwanted results since null characters
+ (integer value zero) often are interpreted as string termination. The
+ current implementation rejects these.</p></warning>
+ <p><em>Examples:</em></p>
<code type="none">
LsOut = os:cmd("ls"), % on unix platform
DirOut = os:cmd("dir"), % on Win32 platform</code>
- <p>Note that in some cases, standard output of a command when
+ <p>Notice that in some cases, standard output of a command when
called from another program (for example, <c>os:cmd/1</c>)
- may differ, compared to the standard output of the command
+ can differ, compared with the standard output of the command
when called directly from an OS command shell.</p>
+ <p><c>os:cmd/2</c> was added in kernel-5.5 (OTP-20.2.1). It makes it
+ possible to pass an options map as the second argument in order to
+ control the behaviour of <c>os:cmd</c>. The possible options are:
+ </p>
+ <taglist>
+ <tag><c>max_size</c></tag>
+ <item>
+ <p>The maximum size of the data returned by the <c>os:cmd</c> call.
+ This option is a safety feature that should be used when the command
+ executed can return a very large, possibly infinite, result.</p>
+ <code type="none">
+> os:cmd("cat /dev/zero", #{ max_size => 20 }).
+[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]</code>
+ </item>
+ </taglist>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="find_executable" arity="1"/>
<name name="find_executable" arity="2"/>
- <fsummary>Absolute filename of a program</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Absolute filename of a program.</fsummary>
<desc>
- <p>These two functions look up an executable program given its
- name and a search path, in the same way as the underlying
- operating system. <c>find_executable/1</c> uses the current
- execution path (that is, the environment variable PATH on
+ <p>These two functions look up an executable program, with the
+ specified name and a search path, in the same way as the underlying
+ OS. <c>find_executable/1</c> uses the current
+ execution path (that is, the environment variable <c>PATH</c> on
Unix and Windows).</p>
- <p><c><anno>Path</anno></c>, if given, should conform to the syntax of
- execution paths on the operating system. The absolute
- filename of the executable program <c><anno>Name</anno></c> is returned,
- or <c>false</c> if the program was not found.</p>
+ <p><c><anno>Path</anno></c>, if specified, is to conform to the syntax
+ of execution paths on the OS. Returns the absolute filename of the
+ executable program <c><anno>Name</anno></c>,
+ or <c>false</c> if the program is not found.</p>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="getenv" arity="0"/>
- <fsummary>List all environment variables</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>List all environment variables.</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns a list of all environment variables.
- Each environment variable is given as a single string on
+ Each environment variable is expressed as a single string on
the format <c>"VarName=Value"</c>, where <c>VarName</c> is
the name of the variable and <c>Value</c> its value.</p>
- <p>If Unicode file name encoding is in effect (see the <seealso
- marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding">erl manual
- page</seealso>), the strings may contain characters with
- codepoints > 255.</p>
+ <p>If Unicode filename encoding is in effect (see the
+ <seealso marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding"><c>erl</c> manual
+ page</seealso>), the strings can contain characters with
+ codepoints &gt; 255.</p>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="getenv" arity="1"/>
- <fsummary>Get the value of an environment variable</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Get the value of an environment variable.</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns the <c><anno>Value</anno></c> of the environment variable
- <c><anno>VarName</anno></c>, or <c>false</c> if the environment variable
- is undefined.</p>
- <p>If Unicode file name encoding is in effect (see the <seealso
- marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding">erl manual
- page</seealso>), the strings (both <c><anno>VarName</anno></c> and
- <c><anno>Value</anno></c>) may contain characters with codepoints > 255.</p>
+ <c><anno>VarName</anno></c>, or <c>false</c> if the environment
+ variable is undefined.</p>
+ <p>If Unicode filename encoding is in effect (see the
+ <seealso marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding"><c>erl</c> manual
+ page</seealso>), the strings <c><anno>VarName</anno></c> and
+ <c><anno>Value</anno></c> can contain characters with
+ codepoints &gt; 255.</p>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="getenv" arity="2"/>
- <fsummary>Get the value of an environment variable</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Get the value of an environment variable.</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns the <c><anno>Value</anno></c> of the environment variable
- <c><anno>VarName</anno></c>, or <c>DefaultValue</c> if the environment variable
- is undefined.</p>
- <p>If Unicode file name encoding is in effect (see the <seealso
- marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding">erl manual
- page</seealso>), the strings (both <c><anno>VarName</anno></c> and
- <c><anno>Value</anno></c>) may contain characters with codepoints > 255.</p>
+ <c><anno>VarName</anno></c>, or <c>DefaultValue</c> if the
+ environment variable is undefined.</p>
+ <p>If Unicode filename encoding is in effect (see the
+ <seealso marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding"><c>erl</c> manual
+ page</seealso>), the strings <c><anno>VarName</anno></c> and
+ <c><anno>Value</anno></c> can contain characters with
+ codepoints &gt; 255.</p>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="getpid" arity="0"/>
- <fsummary>Return the process identifier of the emulator process</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Return the process identifier of the emulator
+ process.</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns the process identifier of the current Erlang emulator
- in the format most commonly used by the operating system
- environment. <c><anno>Value</anno></c> is returned as a string containing
+ in the format most commonly used by the OS environment.
+ Returns <c><anno>Value</anno></c> as a string containing
the (usually) numerical identifier for a process. On Unix,
this is typically the return value of the <c>getpid()</c>
system call. On Windows,
@@ -127,125 +249,192 @@ DirOut = os:cmd("dir"), % on Win32 platform</code>
system call is used.</p>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="putenv" arity="2"/>
- <fsummary>Set a new value for an environment variable</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Set a new value for an environment variable.</fsummary>
<desc>
- <p>Sets a new <c><anno>Value</anno></c> for the environment variable
+ <p>Sets a new <c><anno>Value</anno></c> for environment variable
<c><anno>VarName</anno></c>.</p>
- <p>If Unicode filename encoding is in effect (see the <seealso
- marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding">erl manual
- page</seealso>), the strings (both <c><anno>VarName</anno></c> and
- <c><anno>Value</anno></c>) may contain characters with codepoints > 255.</p>
- <p>On Unix platforms, the environment will be set using UTF-8 encoding
- if Unicode file name translation is in effect. On Windows the
- environment is set using wide character interfaces.</p>
+ <p>If Unicode filename encoding is in effect (see the
+ <seealso marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding"><c>erl</c> manual
+ page</seealso>), the strings <c><anno>VarName</anno></c> and
+ <c><anno>Value</anno></c> can contain characters with
+ codepoints &gt; 255.</p>
+ <p>On Unix platforms, the environment is set using UTF-8 encoding
+ if Unicode filename translation is in effect. On Windows, the
+ environment is set using wide character interfaces.</p>
+ <note>
+ <p>
+ <c><anno>VarName</anno></c> is not allowed to contain
+ an <c>$=</c> character. Previous implementations used
+ to just let the <c>$=</c> character through which
+ silently caused erroneous results. Current implementation
+ will instead throw a <c>badarg</c> exception.
+ </p>
+ </note>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+
+ <func>
+ <name name="set_signal" arity="2"/>
+ <fsummary>Enables or disables handling of OS signals.</fsummary>
+ <desc>
+ <p>Enables or disables OS signals.</p>
+ <p>Each signal my be set to one of the following options:</p>
+ <taglist>
+ <tag><c>ignore</c></tag>
+ <item>
+ This signal will be ignored.
+ </item>
+
+ <tag><c>default</c></tag>
+ <item>
+ This signal will use the default signal handler for the operating system.
+ </item>
+
+ <tag><c>handle</c></tag>
+ <item>
+ This signal will notify
+ <seealso marker="kernel_app#erl_signal_server"><c>erl_signal_server</c></seealso>
+ when it is received by the Erlang runtime system.
+ </item>
+ </taglist>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="system_time" arity="0"/>
- <fsummary>Current OS system time</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Current OS system time.</fsummary>
<desc>
- <p>Returns current
+ <p>Returns the current
<seealso marker="erts:time_correction#OS_System_Time">OS system time</seealso>
in <c>native</c>
<seealso marker="erts:erlang#type_time_unit">time unit</seealso>.</p>
-
- <note><p>This time is <em>not</em> a monotonically increasing time.</p></note>
+ <note><p>This time is <em>not</em> a monotonically increasing time.</p>
+ </note>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="system_time" arity="1"/>
- <fsummary>Current OS system time</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Current OS system time.</fsummary>
<desc>
- <p>Returns current
+ <p>Returns the current
<seealso marker="erts:time_correction#OS_System_Time">OS system time</seealso>
converted into the <c><anno>Unit</anno></c> passed as argument.</p>
-
- <p>Calling <c>os:system_time(<anno>Unit</anno>)</c> is equivalent to:
- <seealso marker="erts:erlang#convert_time_unit/3"><c>erlang:convert_time_unit</c></seealso><c>(</c><seealso marker="#system_time/0"><c>os:system_time()</c></seealso><c>,
+ <p>Calling <c>os:system_time(<anno>Unit</anno>)</c> is equivalent to
+ <seealso marker="erts:erlang#convert_time_unit/3"><c>erlang:convert_time_unit</c></seealso>(<seealso marker="#system_time/0"><c>os:system_time()</c></seealso><c>,
native, <anno>Unit</anno>)</c>.</p>
-
- <note><p>This time is <em>not</em> a monotonically increasing time.</p></note>
+ <note><p>This time is <em>not</em> a monotonically increasing time.</p>
+ </note>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="timestamp" arity="0"/>
- <fsummary>Current OS system time on the erlang:timestamp/0 format</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Current OS system time on the <c>erlang:timestamp/0</c> format.</fsummary>
<type_desc variable="Timestamp">Timestamp = {MegaSecs, Secs, MicroSecs}</type_desc>
<desc>
- <p>Returns current
+ <p>Returns the current
<seealso marker="erts:time_correction#OS_System_Time">OS system time</seealso>
- in the same format as <seealso marker="erts:erlang#timestamp/0">erlang:timestamp/0</seealso>.
- The tuple can be used together with the function
- <seealso marker="stdlib:calendar#now_to_universal_time/1">calendar:now_to_universal_time/1</seealso>
- or <seealso marker="stdlib:calendar#now_to_local_time/1">calendar:now_to_local_time/1</seealso> to
- get calendar time. Using the calendar time together with the <c>MicroSecs</c> part of the return
- tuple from this function allows you to log timestamps in high resolution and consistent with the
- time in the rest of the operating system.</p>
- <p>Example of code formatting a string in the format &quot;DD Mon YYYY HH:MM:SS.mmmmmm&quot;, where
- DD is the day of month, Mon is the textual month name, YYYY is the year, HH:MM:SS is the time and
- mmmmmm is the microseconds in six positions:</p>
-<code>
+ in the same format as
+ <seealso marker="erts:erlang#timestamp/0"><c>erlang:timestamp/0</c></seealso>.
+ The tuple can be used together with function
+ <seealso marker="stdlib:calendar#now_to_universal_time/1"><c>calendar:now_to_universal_time/1</c></seealso>
+ or <seealso marker="stdlib:calendar#now_to_local_time/1"><c>calendar:now_to_local_time/1</c></seealso>
+ to get calendar time. Using the calendar time, together with the
+ <c>MicroSecs</c> part of the return tuple from this function, allows
+ you to log time stamps in high resolution and consistent with the
+ time in the rest of the OS.</p>
+ <p>Example of code formatting a string in format
+ &quot;DD Mon YYYY HH:MM:SS.mmmmmm&quot;, where DD is the day of month,
+ Mon is the textual month name, YYYY is the year, HH:MM:SS is the time,
+ and mmmmmm is the microseconds in six positions:</p>
+ <code>
-module(print_time).
-export([format_utc_timestamp/0]).
format_utc_timestamp() ->
TS = {_,_,Micro} = os:timestamp(),
- {{Year,Month,Day},{Hour,Minute,Second}} =
- calendar:now_to_universal_time(TS),
+ {{Year,Month,Day},{Hour,Minute,Second}} =
+calendar:now_to_universal_time(TS),
Mstr = element(Month,{"Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul",
- "Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"}),
+ "Aug","Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"}),
io_lib:format("~2w ~s ~4w ~2w:~2..0w:~2..0w.~6..0w",
- [Day,Mstr,Year,Hour,Minute,Second,Micro]).
-</code>
-
- <p>The module above could be used in the following way:</p>
-<pre>
+ [Day,Mstr,Year,Hour,Minute,Second,Micro]).</code>
+ <p>This module can be used as follows:</p>
+ <pre>
1> <input>io:format("~s~n",[print_time:format_utc_timestamp()]).</input>
-29 Apr 2009 9:55:30.051711
-</pre>
+29 Apr 2009 9:55:30.051711</pre>
<p>OS system time can also be retreived by
- <seealso marker="#system_time/0"><c>os:system_time/0</c></seealso>,
- and <seealso marker="#system_time/1"><c>os:system_time/1</c></seealso>.</p>
+ <seealso marker="#system_time/0"><c>system_time/0</c></seealso> and
+ <seealso marker="#system_time/1"><c>system_time/1</c></seealso>.</p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+
+ <func>
+ <name name="perf_counter" arity="0"/>
+ <fsummary>Returns a performance counter</fsummary>
+ <desc>
+ <p>Returns the current performance counter value in <c>perf_counter</c>
+ <seealso marker="erts:erlang#type_time_unit">time unit</seealso>.
+ This is a highly optimized call that might not be traceable.
+ </p>
+ </desc>
+ </func>
+ <func>
+ <name name="perf_counter" arity="1"/>
+ <fsummary>Returns a performance counter</fsummary>
+ <desc><p>Returns a performance counter that can be used as a very fast and
+ high resolution timestamp. This counter is read directly from the hardware or operating
+ system with the same guarantees. This means that two consecutive calls
+ to the function are not guaranteed to be monotonic, though it most likely will be.
+ The performance counter will be converted to the resolution passed as an argument.</p>
+ <pre>1> <input>T1 = os:perf_counter(1000),receive after 10000 -> ok end,T2 = os:perf_counter(1000).</input>
+176525861
+2> <input>T2 - T1.</input>
+10004</pre>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="type" arity="0"/>
- <fsummary>Return the OS family and, in some cases, OS name of the current operating system</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Return the OS family and, in some cases, the OS name of the
+ current OS.</fsummary>
<desc>
- <p>Returns the <c><anno>Osfamily</anno></c> and, in some cases, <c><anno>Osname</anno></c>
- of the current operating system.</p>
- <p>On Unix, <c><anno>Osname</anno></c> will have same value as
+ <p>Returns the <c><anno>Osfamily</anno></c> and, in some cases, the
+ <c><anno>Osname</anno></c> of the current OS.</p>
+ <p>On Unix, <c><anno>Osname</anno></c> has the same value as
<c>uname -s</c> returns, but in lower case. For example, on
- Solaris 1 and 2, it will be <c>sunos</c>.</p>
- <p>In Windows, <c><anno>Osname</anno></c> will be either <c>nt</c> (on
- Windows NT), or <c>windows</c> (on Windows 95).</p>
+ Solaris 1 and 2, it is <c>sunos</c>.</p>
+ <p>On Windows, <c><anno>Osname</anno></c> is <c>nt</c>.</p>
<note>
- <p>Think twice before using this function. Use the
- <c>filename</c> module if you want to inspect or build
- file names in a portable way.
- Avoid matching on the <c><anno>Osname</anno></c> atom.</p>
+ <p>Think twice before using this function. Use module
+ <seealso marker="stdlib:filename"><c>filename</c></seealso>
+ if you want to inspect or build filenames in a portable way.
+ Avoid matching on atom <c><anno>Osname</anno></c>.</p>
</note>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="unsetenv" arity="1"/>
- <fsummary>Delete an environment variable</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Delete an environment variable.</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Deletes the environment variable <c><anno>VarName</anno></c>.</p>
- <p>If Unicode filename encoding is in effect (see the <seealso
- marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding">erl manual
- page</seealso>), the string (<c><anno>VarName</anno></c>) may
- contain characters with codepoints > 255.</p>
+ <p>If Unicode filename encoding is in effect (see the
+ <seealso marker="erts:erl#file_name_encoding"><c>erl</c> manual
+ page</seealso>), the string <c><anno>VarName</anno></c> can
+ contain characters with codepoints &gt; 255.</p>
</desc>
</func>
+
<func>
<name name="version" arity="0"/>
- <fsummary>Return the Operating System version</fsummary>
+ <fsummary>Return the OS versions.</fsummary>
<desc>
- <p>Returns the operating system version.
+ <p>Returns the OS version.
On most systems, this function returns a tuple, but a string
- will be returned instead if the system has versions which
+ is returned instead if the system has versions that
cannot be expressed as three numbers.</p>
<note>
<p>Think twice before using this function. If you still need
@@ -255,4 +444,3 @@ format_utc_timestamp() ->
</func>
</funcs>
</erlref>
-