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1 | .\" Hey Emacs! This file is -*- nroff -*- source. |
2 | .\" | |
3 | .\" This manpage is Copyright (C) 1992 Drew Eckhardt; | |
4 | .\" 1993 Michael Haardt, Ian Jackson. | |
5 | .\" | |
6 | .\" Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this | |
7 | .\" manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are | |
8 | .\" preserved on all copies. | |
9 | .\" | |
10 | .\" Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this | |
11 | .\" manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the | |
12 | .\" entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a | |
13 | .\" permission notice identical to this one. | |
c13182ef | 14 | .\" |
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15 | .\" Since the Linux kernel and libraries are constantly changing, this |
16 | .\" manual page may be incorrect or out-of-date. The author(s) assume no | |
17 | .\" responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from | |
18 | .\" the use of the information contained herein. The author(s) may not | |
19 | .\" have taken the same level of care in the production of this manual, | |
20 | .\" which is licensed free of charge, as they might when working | |
21 | .\" professionally. | |
c13182ef | 22 | .\" |
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23 | .\" Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by |
24 | .\" the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work. | |
25 | .\" | |
26 | .\" Modified Wed Jul 21 19:42:57 1993 by Rik Faith <faith@cs.unc.edu> | |
27 | .\" Modified Sun Jul 21 21:25:26 1996 by Andries Brouwer <aeb@cwi.nl> | |
28 | .\" Modified Wed Nov 6 03:46:05 1996 by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com> | |
29 | .\" | |
ffe84477 | 30 | .TH ALARM 2 2008-06-12 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual" |
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31 | .SH NAME |
32 | alarm \- set an alarm clock for delivery of a signal | |
33 | .SH SYNOPSIS | |
34 | .nf | |
35 | .B #include <unistd.h> | |
36 | .sp | |
37 | .BI "unsigned int alarm(unsigned int " seconds ); | |
38 | .fi | |
39 | .SH DESCRIPTION | |
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40 | .BR alarm () |
41 | arranges for a | |
ae050d9a | 42 | .B SIGALRM |
ffe84477 | 43 | signal to be delivered to the calling process in |
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44 | .I seconds |
45 | seconds. | |
46 | ||
47 | If | |
48 | .I seconds | |
49 | is zero, no new | |
e511ffb6 | 50 | .BR alarm () |
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51 | is scheduled. |
52 | ||
53 | In any event any previously set | |
e511ffb6 | 54 | .BR alarm () |
d9bfdb9c | 55 | is canceled. |
fea681da | 56 | .SH "RETURN VALUE" |
e511ffb6 | 57 | .BR alarm () |
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58 | returns the number of seconds remaining until any previously scheduled |
59 | alarm was due to be delivered, or zero if there was no previously | |
60 | scheduled alarm. | |
a1d5f77c | 61 | .SH "CONFORMING TO" |
44a2c328 | 62 | SVr4, POSIX.1-2001, 4.3BSD. |
fea681da | 63 | .SH NOTES |
ae050d9a | 64 | .BR alarm () |
c13182ef | 65 | and |
0bfa087b | 66 | .BR setitimer (2) |
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67 | share the same timer; calls to one will interfere with use of the |
68 | other. | |
69 | .PP | |
0bfa087b | 70 | .BR sleep (3) |
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71 | may be implemented using |
72 | .BR SIGALRM ; | |
73 | mixing calls to | |
63aa9df0 | 74 | .BR alarm () |
fea681da | 75 | and |
0bfa087b | 76 | .BR sleep (3) |
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77 | is a bad idea. |
78 | ||
79 | Scheduling delays can, as ever, cause the execution of the process to | |
80 | be delayed by an arbitrary amount of time. | |
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81 | .SH "SEE ALSO" |
82 | .BR gettimeofday (2), | |
83 | .BR pause (2), | |
84 | .BR select (2), | |
85 | .BR setitimer (2), | |
86 | .BR sigaction (2), | |
87 | .BR signal (2), | |
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88 | .BR sleep (3), |
89 | .BR time (7) |