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FALLOCATE(2) Linux Programmer's Manual FALLOCATE(2)
fallocate - manipulate file space
#define _GNU_SOURCE /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <fcntl.h>
int fallocate(int fd, int mode, off_t offset, off_t len);
This is a nonportable, Linux-specific system call. For the portable,
POSIX.1-specified method of ensuring that space is allocated for a file,
see posix_fallocate(3).
fallocate() allows the caller to directly manipulate the allocated disk
space for the file referred to by fd for the byte range starting at offset
and continuing for len bytes.
The mode argument determines the operation to be performed on the given
range. Details of the supported operations are given in the subsections
below.
The default operation (i.e., mode is zero) of fallocate() allocates and
initializes to zero the disk space within the range specified by offset and
len. The file size (as reported by stat(2)) will be changed if offset+len
is greater than the file size. This default behavior closely resembles the
behavior of the posix_fallocate(3) library function, and is intended as a
method of optimally implementing that function.
After a successful call, subsequent writes into the range specified by
offset and len are guaranteed not to fail because of lack of disk space.
If the FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE flag is specified in mode, the behavior of the
call is similar, but the file size will not be changed even if offset+len
is greater than the file size. Preallocating zeroed blocks beyond the end
of the file in this manner is useful for optimizing append workloads.
Because allocation is done in block size chunks, fallocate() may allocate a
larger range of disk space than was specified.
Specifying the FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE flag (available since Linux 2.6.38) in
mode deallocates space (i.e., creates a hole) in the byte range starting at
offset and continuing for len bytes. Within the specified range, partial
file system blocks are zeroed, and whole file system blocks are removed
from the file. After a successful call, subsequent reads from this range
will return zeroes.
The FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE flag must be ORed with FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE in
mode; in other words, even when punching off the end of the file, the file
size (as reported by stat(2)) does not change.
Not all file systems support FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE; if a file system doesn't
support the operation, an error is returned.
fallocate() returns zero on success, and -1 on failure.
EBADF fd is not a valid file descriptor, or is not opened for writing.
EFBIG offset+len exceeds the maximum file size.
EINTR A signal was caught during execution.
EINVAL offset was less than 0, or len was less than or equal to 0.
EIO An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to a file
system.
ENODEV fd does not refer to a regular file or a directory. (If fd is a
pipe or FIFO, a different error results.)
ENOSPC There is not enough space left on the device containing the file
referred to by fd.
ENOSYS This kernel does not implement fallocate().
EOPNOTSUPP
The file system containing the file referred to by fd does not
support this operation; or the mode is not supported by the file
system containing the file referred to by fd.
EPERM The file referred to by fd is marked immutable (see chattr(1)). Or:
mode specifies FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE and the file referred to by fd
is marked append-only (see chattr(1)).
ESPIPE fd refers to a pipe or FIFO.
fallocate() is available on Linux since kernel 2.6.23. Support is provided
by glibc since version 2.10.
fallocate() is Linux-specific.
ftruncate(2), posix_fadvise(3), posix_fallocate(3)
This page is part of release 3.41 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be
found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux 2012-04-23 FALLOCATE(2)
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The Linux Programming Interface,
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