dlsym(3p) — Linux manual page

PROLOG | NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | EXAMPLES | APPLICATION USAGE | RATIONALE | FUTURE DIRECTIONS | SEE ALSO | COPYRIGHT

DLSYM(3P)               POSIX Programmer's Manual              DLSYM(3P)

PROLOG         top

       This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The
       Linux implementation of this interface may differ (consult the
       corresponding Linux manual page for details of Linux behavior),
       or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.

NAME         top

       dlsym — get the address of a symbol from a symbol table handle

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <dlfcn.h>

       void *dlsym(void *restrict handle, const char *restrict name);

DESCRIPTION         top

       The dlsym() function shall obtain the address of a symbol (a
       function identifier or a data object identifier) defined in the
       symbol table identified by the handle argument. The handle
       argument is a symbol table handle returned from a call to
       dlopen() (and which has not since been released by a call to
       dlclose()), and name is the symbol's name as a character string.
       The return value from dlsym(), cast to a pointer to the type of
       the named symbol, can be used to call (in the case of a function)
       or access the contents of (in the case of a data object) the
       named symbol.

       The dlsym() function shall search for the named symbol in the
       symbol table referenced by handle.  If the symbol table was
       created with lazy loading (see RTLD_LAZY in dlopen()), load
       ordering shall be used in dlsym() operations to relocate
       executable object files needed to resolve the symbol. The symbol
       resolution algorithm used shall be dependency order as described
       in dlopen().

       The RTLD_DEFAULT and RTLD_NEXT symbolic constants (which may be
       defined in <dlfcn.h>) are reserved for future use as special
       values that applications may be allowed to use for handle.

RETURN VALUE         top

       Upon successful completion, if name names a function identifier,
       dlsym() shall return the address of the function converted from
       type pointer to function to type pointer to void; otherwise,
       dlsym() shall return the address of the data object associated
       with the data object identifier named by name converted from a
       pointer to the type of the data object to a pointer to void.  If
       handle does not refer to a valid symbol table handle or if the
       symbol named by name cannot be found in the symbol table
       associated with handle, dlsym() shall return a null pointer.

       More detailed diagnostic information shall be available through
       dlerror().

ERRORS         top

       No errors are defined.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES         top

       The following example shows how dlopen() and dlsym() can be used
       to access either a function or a data object. For simplicity,
       error checking has been omitted.

           void *handle;
           int (*fptr)(int), *iptr, result;
           /* open the needed symbol table */
           handle = dlopen("/usr/home/me/libfoo.so", RTLD_LOCAL | RTLD_LAZY);
           /* find the address of the function my_function */
           fptr = (int (*)(int))dlsym(handle, "my_function");
           /* find the address of the data object my_object */
           iptr = (int *)dlsym(handle, "my_OBJ");
           /* invoke my_function, passing the value of my_OBJ as the parameter */
           result = (*fptr)(*iptr);

APPLICATION USAGE         top

       The following special purpose values for handle are reserved for
       future use and have the indicated meanings:

       RTLD_DEFAULT
                   The identifier lookup happens in the normal global
                   scope; that is, a search for an identifier using
                   handle would find the same definition as a direct use
                   of this identifier in the program code.

       RTLD_NEXT   Specifies the next executable object file after this
                   one that defines name.  This one refers to the
                   executable object file containing the invocation of
                   dlsym().  The next executable object file is the one
                   found upon the application of a load order symbol
                   resolution algorithm (see dlopen()).  The next symbol
                   is either one of global scope (because it was
                   introduced as part of the original process image or
                   because it was added with a dlopen() operation
                   including the RTLD_GLOBAL flag), or is in an
                   executable object file that was included in the same
                   dlopen() operation that loaded this one.

       The RTLD_NEXT flag is useful to navigate an intentionally created
       hierarchy of multiply-defined symbols created through
       interposition. For example, if a program wished to create an
       implementation of malloc() that embedded some statistics
       gathering about memory allocations, such an implementation could
       use the real malloc() definition to perform the memory allocation
       — and itself only embed the necessary logic to implement the
       statistics gathering function.

       Note that conversion from a void * pointer to a function pointer
       as in:

           fptr = (int (*)(int))dlsym(handle, "my_function");

       is not defined by the ISO C standard. This standard requires this
       conversion to work correctly on conforming implementations.

RATIONALE         top

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS         top

       None.

SEE ALSO         top

       dlclose(3p), dlerror(3p), dlopen(3p)

       The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, dlfcn.h(0p)

COPYRIGHT         top

       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic
       form from IEEE Std 1003.1-2017, Standard for Information
       Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The
       Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright
       (C) 2018 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
       Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.  In the event of any
       discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The
       Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard is the referee document. The original Standard can be
       obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

       Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page
       are most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of
       the source files to man page format. To report such errors, see
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

IEEE/The Open Group               2017                         DLSYM(3P)

Pages that refer to this page: dlfcn.h(0p)dlclose(3p)dlerror(3p)dlopen(3p)