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SYSCALL(2)                                 BSD System Calls Manual                                SYSCALL(2)

NAME
     syscall -- indirect system call

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

     int
     syscall(int number, ...);

DESCRIPTION
     Syscall() performs the system call whose assembly language interface has the specified number with the
     specified arguments.  Symbolic constants for system calls can be found in the header file
     <sys/syscall.h>.  This function 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 general, 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 call appeared in 4.0BSD.

4th Berkeley Distribution                       June 23, 2008                      4th Berkeley Distribution