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syscall(2)

NAME

     syscall, __syscall -- indirect system call

LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

     #include <sys/syscall.h>
     #include <unistd.h>

     int
     syscall(int number, ...);

     off_t
     __syscall(quad_t number, ...);

DESCRIPTION

     The syscall() function performs the system call whose assembly language
     interface has the specified number with the specified arguments.  Sym-
     bolic constants for system calls can be found in the header file
     <sys/syscall.h>.  The __syscall() form should be used when one or more of
     the arguments is a 64-bit argument to ensure that argument alignment is
     correct.  This system call is useful for testing new system calls that do
     not have entries in the C library.

RETURN VALUES

     The return values are defined by the system call being invoked.  In gen-
     eral, a 0 return value indicates success.	A -1 return value indicates an
     error, and an error code is stored in errno.

BUGS

     There is no way to simulate system calls that have multiple return values
     such as pipe(2).

HISTORY

     The syscall() function appeared in 4.0BSD.

FreeBSD 5.4			 June 16, 1993			   FreeBSD 5.4

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