This manual page is for Mac OS X version 10.6.3

Reading manual pages

FREAD(3)                                BSD Library Functions Manual                                FREAD(3)

NAME
     fread, fwrite -- binary stream input/output

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <stdio.h>

     size_t
     fread(void *restrict ptr, size_t size, size_t nitems, FILE *restrict stream);

     size_t
     fwrite(const void *restrict ptr, size_t size, size_t nitems, FILE *restrict stream);

DESCRIPTION
     The function fread() reads nitems objects, each size bytes long, from the stream pointed to by stream,
     storing them at the location given by ptr.

     The function fwrite() writes nitems objects, each size bytes long, to the stream pointed to by stream,
     obtaining them from the location given by ptr.

RETURN VALUES
     The functions fread() and fwrite() advance the file position indicator for the stream by the number of
     bytes read or written.  They return the number of objects read or written.  If an error occurs, or the
     end-of-file is reached, the return value is a short object count (or zero).

     The function fread() does not distinguish between end-of-file and error; callers must use feof(3) and
     ferror(3) to determine which occurred.  The function fwrite() returns a value less than nitems only if
     a write error has occurred.

SEE ALSO
     read(2), write(2)

STANDARDS
     The functions fread() and fwrite() conform to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (``ISO C90'').

BSD                                             March 8, 1994                                            BSD