FTOK(3)			   Linux Programmer's Manual		       FTOK(3)



NAME
       ftok  -	convert	 a pathname and a project identifier to a System V IPC
       key

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <sys/ipc.h>

       key_t ftok(const char *pathname, int proj_id);

DESCRIPTION
       The ftok() function uses the identity of the file named	by  the	 given
       pathname	 (which	 must  refer  to an existing, accessible file) and the
       least significant 8 bits of proj_id (which must be nonzero) to generate
       a  key_t	 type  System  V  IPC  key,  suitable  for use with msgget(2),
       semget(2), or shmget(2).

       The resulting value is the same for all pathnames that  name  the  same
       file,  when  the	 same  value  of  proj_id is used.  The value returned
       should be different when the (simultaneously  existing)	files  or  the
       project IDs differ.

RETURN VALUE
       On  success,  the  generated key_t value is returned.  On failure -1 is
       returned, with errno indicating the error as  for  the  stat(2)	system
       call.

ATTRIBUTES
       For   an	  explanation	of   the  terms	 used  in  this	 section,  see
       attributes(7).

       +----------+---------------+---------+
       |Interface | Attribute	  | Value   |
       +----------+---------------+---------+
       |ftok()	  | Thread safety | MT-Safe |
       +----------+---------------+---------+
CONFORMING TO
       POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008.

NOTES
       On some ancient systems, the prototype was:

	      key_t ftok(char *pathname, char proj_id);

       Today, proj_id is an int, but still only	 8  bits  are  used.   Typical
       usage  has an ASCII character proj_id, that is why the behavior is said
       to be undefined when proj_id is zero.

       Of course, no guarantee can  be	given  that  the  resulting  key_t  is
       unique.	 Typically,  a	best-effort attempt combines the given proj_id
       byte, the lower 16 bits of the inode number, and the lower  8  bits  of
       the  device number into a 32-bit result.	 Collisions may easily happen,
       for example between files on /dev/hda1 and files on /dev/sda1.

SEE ALSO
       msgget(2), semget(2), shmget(2), stat(2), svipc(7)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 4.10 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of	the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
       latest	 version    of	  this	  page,	   can	   be	  found	    at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



GNU				  2015-08-08			       FTOK(3)