IO

Opens the file, optionally seeks to the given offset, then returns length bytes (defaulting to the rest of the file). binread ensures the file is closed before returning. The open mode would be “rb:ASCII-8BIT”.

IO.binread("testfile")           #=> "This is line one\nThis is line two\nThis is line three\nAnd so on...\n"
IO.binread("testfile", 20)       #=> "This is line one\nThi"
IO.binread("testfile", 20, 10)   #=> "ne one\nThis is line "

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_binread(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE offset;
    struct foreach_arg arg;

    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "12", NULL, NULL, &offset);
    FilePathValue(argv[0]);
    arg.io = rb_io_open(argv[0], rb_str_new_cstr("rb:ASCII-8BIT"), Qnil, Qnil);
    if (NIL_P(arg.io)) return Qnil;
    arg.argv = argv+1;
    arg.argc = (argc > 1) ? 1 : 0;
    if (!NIL_P(offset)) {
        rb_io_seek(arg.io, offset, SEEK_SET);
    }
    return rb_ensure(io_s_read, (VALUE)&arg, rb_io_close, arg.io);
}
            

Same as IO.write except opening the file in binary mode and ASCII-8BIT encoding (“wb:ASCII-8BIT”).

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_binwrite(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    return io_s_write(argc, argv, 1);
}
            

::copy_stream copies src to dst. src and dst is either a filename or an IO.

This method returns the number of bytes copied.

If optional arguments are not given, the start position of the copy is the beginning of the filename or the current file offset of the IO. The end position of the copy is the end of file.

If copy_length is given, No more than copy_length bytes are copied.

If src_offset is given, it specifies the start position of the copy.

When src_offset is specified and src is an IO, ::copy_stream doesn't move the current file offset.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_copy_stream(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE src, dst, length, src_offset;
    struct copy_stream_struct st;

    MEMZERO(&st, struct copy_stream_struct, 1);

    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "22", &src, &dst, &length, &src_offset);

    st.src = src;
    st.dst = dst;

    if (NIL_P(length))
        st.copy_length = (off_t)-1;
    else
        st.copy_length = NUM2OFFT(length);

    if (NIL_P(src_offset))
        st.src_offset = (off_t)-1;
    else
        st.src_offset = NUM2OFFT(src_offset);

    rb_fd_init(&st.fds);
    rb_ensure(copy_stream_body, (VALUE)&st, copy_stream_finalize, (VALUE)&st);

    return OFFT2NUM(st.total);
}
            

Synonym for IO.new.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_for_fd(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE klass)
{
    VALUE io = rb_obj_alloc(klass);
    rb_io_initialize(argc, argv, io);
    return io;
}
            

Executes the block for every line in the named I/O port, where lines are separated by sep.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

IO.foreach("testfile") {|x| print "GOT ", x }

produces:

GOT This is line one
GOT This is line two
GOT This is line three
GOT And so on...

If the last argument is a hash, it's the keyword argument to open. See IO.read for detail.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_foreach(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE self)
{
    VALUE opt;
    int orig_argc = argc;
    struct foreach_arg arg;

    argc = rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "13:", NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, &opt);
    RETURN_ENUMERATOR(self, orig_argc, argv);
    open_key_args(argc, argv, opt, &arg);
    if (NIL_P(arg.io)) return Qnil;
    return rb_ensure(io_s_foreach, (VALUE)&arg, rb_io_close, arg.io);
}
            

Returns a new IO object (a stream) for the given integer file descriptor fd and mode string. opt may be used to specify parts of mode in a more readable fashion. See also ::sysopen and ::for_fd.

::new is called by various File and IO opening methods such as ::open, Kernel#open, and File.open.

Open Mode¶ ↑

When mode is an integer it must be combination of the modes defined in File::Constants (File::RDONLY, +File::WRONLY | File::CREAT+). See the open(2) man page for more information.

When mode is a string it must be in one of the following forms:

fmode
fmode ":" ext_enc
fmode ":" ext_enc ":" int_enc
fmode ":" "BOM|UTF-*"

fmode is an IO open mode string, ext_enc is the external encoding for the IO and int_enc is the internal encoding.

IO Open Mode¶ ↑

Ruby allows the following open modes:

"r"  Read-only, starts at beginning of file  (default mode).

"r+" Read-write, starts at beginning of file.

"w"  Write-only, truncates existing file
     to zero length or creates a new file for writing.

"w+" Read-write, truncates existing file to zero length
     or creates a new file for reading and writing.

"a"  Write-only, starts at end of file if file exists,
     otherwise creates a new file for writing.

"a+" Read-write, starts at end of file if file exists,
     otherwise creates a new file for reading and
     writing.

The following modes must be used separately, and along with one or more of the modes seen above.

"b"  Binary file mode
     Suppresses EOL <-> CRLF conversion on Windows. And
     sets external encoding to ASCII-8BIT unless explicitly
     specified.

"t"  Text file mode

When the open mode of original IO is read only, the mode cannot be changed to be writable. Similarly, the open mode cannot be changed from write only to readable.

When such a change is attempted the error is raised in different locations according to the platform.

IO Encoding¶ ↑

When ext_enc is specified, strings read will be tagged by the encoding when reading, and strings output will be converted to the specified encoding when writing.

When ext_enc and int_enc are specified read strings will be converted from ext_enc to int_enc upon input, and written strings will be converted from int_enc to ext_enc upon output. See Encoding for further details of transcoding on input and output.

If “BOM|UTF-8”, “BOM|UTF-16LE” or “BOM|UTF16-BE” are used, ruby checks for a Unicode BOM in the input document to help determine the encoding. For UTF-16 encodings the file open mode must be binary. When present, the BOM is stripped and the external encoding from the BOM is used. When the BOM is missing the given Unicode encoding is used as ext_enc. (The BOM-set encoding option is case insensitive, so “bom|utf-8” is also valid.)

Options¶ ↑

opt can be used instead of mode for improved readability. The following keys are supported:

:mode

Same as mode parameter

:external_encoding

External encoding for the IO. “-” is a synonym for the default external encoding.

:internal_encoding

Internal encoding for the IO. “-” is a synonym for the default internal encoding.

If the value is nil no conversion occurs.

:encoding

Specifies external and internal encodings as “extern:intern”.

:textmode

If the value is truth value, same as “t” in argument mode.

:binmode

If the value is truth value, same as “b” in argument mode.

:autoclose

If the value is false, the fd will be kept open after this IO instance gets finalized.

Also, opt can have same keys in String#encode for controlling conversion between the external encoding and the internal encoding.

Example 1¶ ↑

fd = IO.sysopen("/dev/tty", "w")
a = IO.new(fd,"w")
$stderr.puts "Hello"
a.puts "World"

Produces:

Hello
World

Example 2¶ ↑

require 'fcntl'

fd = STDERR.fcntl(Fcntl::F_DUPFD)
io = IO.new(fd, mode: 'w:UTF-16LE', cr_newline: true)
io.puts "Hello, World!"

fd = STDERR.fcntl(Fcntl::F_DUPFD)
io = IO.new(fd, mode: 'w', cr_newline: true,
            external_encoding: Encoding::UTF_16LE)
io.puts "Hello, World!"

Both of above print “Hello, World!” in UTF-16LE to standard error output with converting EOL generated by puts to CR.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_initialize(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE fnum, vmode;
    rb_io_t *fp;
    int fd, fmode, oflags = O_RDONLY;
    convconfig_t convconfig;
    VALUE opt;
#if defined(HAVE_FCNTL) && defined(F_GETFL)
    int ofmode;
#else
    struct stat st;
#endif


    argc = rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11:", &fnum, &vmode, &opt);
    rb_io_extract_modeenc(&vmode, 0, opt, &oflags, &fmode, &convconfig);

    fd = NUM2INT(fnum);
    if (rb_reserved_fd_p(fd)) {
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "The given fd is not accessible because RubyVM reserves it");
    }
#if defined(HAVE_FCNTL) && defined(F_GETFL)
    oflags = fcntl(fd, F_GETFL);
    if (oflags == -1) rb_sys_fail(0);
#else
    if (fstat(fd, &st) == -1) rb_sys_fail(0);
#endif
    rb_update_max_fd(fd);
#if defined(HAVE_FCNTL) && defined(F_GETFL)
    ofmode = rb_io_oflags_fmode(oflags);
    if (NIL_P(vmode)) {
        fmode = ofmode;
    }
    else if ((~ofmode & fmode) & FMODE_READWRITE) {
        VALUE error = INT2FIX(EINVAL);
        rb_exc_raise(rb_class_new_instance(1, &error, rb_eSystemCallError));
    }
#endif
    if (!NIL_P(opt) && rb_hash_aref(opt, sym_autoclose) == Qfalse) {
        fmode |= FMODE_PREP;
    }
    MakeOpenFile(io, fp);
    fp->fd = fd;
    fp->mode = fmode;
    fp->encs = convconfig;
    clear_codeconv(fp);
    io_check_tty(fp);
    if (fileno(stdin) == fd)
        fp->stdio_file = stdin;
    else if (fileno(stdout) == fd)
        fp->stdio_file = stdout;
    else if (fileno(stderr) == fd)
        fp->stdio_file = stderr;

    if (fmode & FMODE_SETENC_BY_BOM) io_set_encoding_by_bom(io);
    return io;
}
            

With no associated block, IO.open is a synonym for ::new. If the optional code block is given, it will be passed io as an argument, and the IO object will automatically be closed when the block terminates. In this instance, ::open returns the value of the block.

See ::new for a description of the fd, mode and opt parameters.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_open(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE klass)
{
    VALUE io = rb_class_new_instance(argc, argv, klass);

    if (rb_block_given_p()) {
        return rb_ensure(rb_yield, io, io_close, io);
    }

    return io;
}
            

Creates a pair of pipe endpoints (connected to each other) and returns them as a two-element array of IO objects: [ read_io, write_io ].

If a block is given, the block is called and returns the value of the block. read_io and write_io are sent to the block as arguments. If read_io and write_io are not closed when the block exits, they are closed. i.e. closing read_io and/or write_io doesn't cause an error.

Not available on all platforms.

If an encoding (encoding name or encoding object) is specified as an optional argument, read string from pipe is tagged with the encoding specified. If the argument is a colon separated two encoding names “A:B”, the read string is converted from encoding A (external encoding) to encoding B (internal encoding), then tagged with B. If two optional arguments are specified, those must be encoding objects or encoding names, and the first one is the external encoding, and the second one is the internal encoding. If the external encoding and the internal encoding is specified, optional hash argument specify the conversion option.

In the example below, the two processes close the ends of the pipe that they are not using. This is not just a cosmetic nicety. The read end of a pipe will not generate an end of file condition if there are any writers with the pipe still open. In the case of the parent process, the rd.read will never return if it does not first issue a wr.close.

rd, wr = IO.pipe

if fork
  wr.close
  puts "Parent got: <#{rd.read}>"
  rd.close
  Process.wait
else
  rd.close
  puts "Sending message to parent"
  wr.write "Hi Dad"
  wr.close
end

produces:

Sending message to parent
Parent got: <Hi Dad>

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_pipe(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE klass)
{
    int pipes[2], state;
    VALUE r, w, args[3], v1, v2;
    VALUE opt;
    rb_io_t *fptr, *fptr2;
    int fmode = 0;
    VALUE ret;

    argc = rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "02:", &v1, &v2, &opt);
    if (rb_pipe(pipes) == -1)
        rb_sys_fail(0);

    args[0] = klass;
    args[1] = INT2NUM(pipes[0]);
    args[2] = INT2FIX(O_RDONLY);
    r = rb_protect(io_new_instance, (VALUE)args, &state);
    if (state) {
        close(pipes[0]);
        close(pipes[1]);
        rb_jump_tag(state);
    }
    GetOpenFile(r, fptr);
    io_encoding_set(fptr, v1, v2, opt);
    args[1] = INT2NUM(pipes[1]);
    args[2] = INT2FIX(O_WRONLY);
    w = rb_protect(io_new_instance, (VALUE)args, &state);
    if (state) {
        close(pipes[1]);
        if (!NIL_P(r)) rb_io_close(r);
        rb_jump_tag(state);
    }
    GetOpenFile(w, fptr2);
    rb_io_synchronized(fptr2);

    extract_binmode(opt, &fmode);
#if DEFAULT_TEXTMODE
    if ((fptr->mode & FMODE_TEXTMODE) && (fmode & FMODE_BINMODE)) {
        fptr->mode &= ~FMODE_TEXTMODE;
        setmode(fptr->fd, O_BINARY);
    }
#if defined(RUBY_TEST_CRLF_ENVIRONMENT) || defined(_WIN32)
    if (fptr->encs.ecflags & ECONV_DEFAULT_NEWLINE_DECORATOR) {
        fptr->encs.ecflags |= ECONV_UNIVERSAL_NEWLINE_DECORATOR;
    }
#endif
#endif
    fptr->mode |= fmode;
#if DEFAULT_TEXTMODE
    if ((fptr2->mode & FMODE_TEXTMODE) && (fmode & FMODE_BINMODE)) {
        fptr2->mode &= ~FMODE_TEXTMODE;
        setmode(fptr2->fd, O_BINARY);
    }
#endif
    fptr2->mode |= fmode;

    ret = rb_assoc_new(r, w);
    if (rb_block_given_p()) {
        VALUE rw[2];
        rw[0] = r;
        rw[1] = w;
        return rb_ensure(rb_yield, ret, pipe_pair_close, (VALUE)rw);
    }
    return ret;
}
            

Runs the specified command as a subprocess; the subprocess's standard input and output will be connected to the returned IO object.

The PID of the started process can be obtained by #pid method.

cmd is a string or an array as follows.

cmd:
  "-"                                      : fork
  commandline                              : command line string which is passed to a shell
  [env, cmdname, arg1, ..., opts]          : command name and zero or more arguments (no shell)
  [env, [cmdname, argv0], arg1, ..., opts] : command name, argv[0] and zero or more arguments (no shell)
(env and opts are optional.)

If cmd is a String “-'', then a new instance of Ruby is started as the subprocess.

If cmd is an Array of String, then it will be used as the subprocess's argv bypassing a shell. The array can contains a hash at first for environments and a hash at last for options similar to spawn.

The default mode for the new file object is “r'', but mode may be set to any of the modes listed in the description for class IO. The last argument opt qualifies mode.

# set IO encoding
IO.popen("nkf -e filename", :external_encoding=>"EUC-JP") {|nkf_io|
  euc_jp_string = nkf_io.read
}

# merge standard output and standard error using
# spawn option.  See the document of Kernel.spawn.
IO.popen(["ls", "/", :err=>[:child, :out]]) {|ls_io|
  ls_result_with_error = ls_io.read
}

# spawn options can be mixed with IO options
IO.popen(["ls", "/"], :err=>[:child, :out]) {|ls_io|
  ls_result_with_error = ls_io.read
}

Raises exceptions which IO.pipe and Kernel.spawn raise.

If a block is given, Ruby will run the command as a child connected to Ruby with a pipe. Ruby's end of the pipe will be passed as a parameter to the block. At the end of block, Ruby close the pipe and sets $?. In this case IO.popen returns the value of the block.

If a block is given with a cmd of “-'', the block will be run in two separate processes: once in the parent, and once in a child. The parent process will be passed the pipe object as a parameter to the block, the child version of the block will be passed nil, and the child's standard in and standard out will be connected to the parent through the pipe. Not available on all platforms.

f = IO.popen("uname")
p f.readlines
f.close
puts "Parent is #{Process.pid}"
IO.popen("date") { |f| puts f.gets }
IO.popen("-") {|f| $stderr.puts "#{Process.pid} is here, f is #{f.inspect}"}
p $?
IO.popen(%w"sed -e s|^|<foo>| -e s&$&;zot;&", "r+") {|f|
  f.puts "bar"; f.close_write; puts f.gets
}

produces:

["Linux\n"]
Parent is 21346
Thu Jan 15 22:41:19 JST 2009
21346 is here, f is #<IO:fd 3>
21352 is here, f is nil
#<Process::Status: pid 21352 exit 0>
<foo>bar;zot;

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_popen(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE klass)
{
    const char *modestr;
    VALUE pname, pmode = Qnil, port, tmp, opt = Qnil, env = Qnil, execarg_obj = Qnil;
    int oflags, fmode;
    convconfig_t convconfig;

    if (argc > 1 && !NIL_P(opt = rb_check_hash_type(argv[argc-1]))) --argc;
    if (argc > 1 && !NIL_P(env = rb_check_hash_type(argv[0]))) --argc, ++argv;
    switch (argc) {
      case 2:
        pmode = argv[1];
      case 1:
        pname = argv[0];
        break;
      default:
        {
            int ex = !NIL_P(opt);
            rb_error_arity(argc + ex, 1 + ex, 2 + ex);
        }
    }

    tmp = rb_check_array_type(pname);
    if (!NIL_P(tmp)) {
        long len = RARRAY_LEN(tmp);
#if SIZEOF_LONG > SIZEOF_INT
        if (len > INT_MAX) {
            rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "too many arguments");
        }
#endif
        tmp = rb_ary_dup(tmp);
        RBASIC_CLEAR_CLASS(tmp);
        execarg_obj = rb_execarg_new((int)len, RARRAY_PTR(tmp), FALSE);
        rb_ary_clear(tmp);
    }
    else {
        SafeStringValue(pname);
        execarg_obj = Qnil;
        if (!is_popen_fork(pname))
            execarg_obj = rb_execarg_new(1, &pname, TRUE);
    }
    if (!NIL_P(execarg_obj)) {
        if (!NIL_P(opt))
            opt = rb_execarg_extract_options(execarg_obj, opt);
        if (!NIL_P(env))
            rb_execarg_setenv(execarg_obj, env);
    }
    rb_io_extract_modeenc(&pmode, 0, opt, &oflags, &fmode, &convconfig);
    modestr = rb_io_oflags_modestr(oflags);

    port = pipe_open(execarg_obj, modestr, fmode, &convconfig);
    if (NIL_P(port)) {
        /* child */
        if (rb_block_given_p()) {
            rb_yield(Qnil);
            rb_io_flush(rb_stdout);
            rb_io_flush(rb_stderr);
            _exit(0);
        }
        return Qnil;
    }
    RBASIC_SET_CLASS(port, klass);
    if (rb_block_given_p()) {
        return rb_ensure(rb_yield, port, io_close, port);
    }
    return port;
}
            

Opens the file, optionally seeks to the given offset, then returns length bytes (defaulting to the rest of the file). read ensures the file is closed before returning.

If the last argument is a hash, it specifies option for internal open(). The key would be the following. open_args: is exclusive to others.

encoding

string or encoding

specifies encoding of the read string. encoding will be ignored if length is specified.

mode

string

specifies mode argument for open(). It should start with “r” otherwise it will cause an error.

open_args

array of strings

specifies arguments for open() as an array.

Examples:

IO.read("testfile")           #=> "This is line one\nThis is line two\nThis is line three\nAnd so on...\n"
IO.read("testfile", 20)       #=> "This is line one\nThi"
IO.read("testfile", 20, 10)   #=> "ne one\nThis is line "

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_read(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE opt, offset;
    struct foreach_arg arg;

    argc = rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "13:", NULL, NULL, &offset, NULL, &opt);
    open_key_args(argc, argv, opt, &arg);
    if (NIL_P(arg.io)) return Qnil;
    if (!NIL_P(offset)) {
        struct seek_arg sarg;
        int state = 0;
        sarg.io = arg.io;
        sarg.offset = offset;
        sarg.mode = SEEK_SET;
        rb_protect(seek_before_access, (VALUE)&sarg, &state);
        if (state) {
            rb_io_close(arg.io);
            rb_jump_tag(state);
        }
        if (arg.argc == 2) arg.argc = 1;
    }
    return rb_ensure(io_s_read, (VALUE)&arg, rb_io_close, arg.io);
}
            

Reads the entire file specified by name as individual lines, and returns those lines in an array. Lines are separated by sep.

a = IO.readlines("testfile")
a[0]   #=> "This is line one\n"

If the last argument is a hash, it's the keyword argument to open. See IO.read for detail.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_readlines(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE opt;
    struct foreach_arg arg;

    argc = rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "13:", NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, &opt);
    open_key_args(argc, argv, opt, &arg);
    if (NIL_P(arg.io)) return Qnil;
    return rb_ensure(io_s_readlines, (VALUE)&arg, rb_io_close, arg.io);
}
            

Calls select(2) system call. It monitors given arrays of IO objects, waits one or more of IO objects ready for reading, are ready for writing, and have pending exceptions respectively, and returns an array that contains arrays of those IO objects. It will return nil if optional timeout value is given and no IO object is ready in timeout seconds.

IO.select peeks the buffer of IO objects for testing readability. If the IO buffer is not empty, IO.select immediately notify readability. This “peek” is only happen for IO objects. It is not happen for IO-like objects such as OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket.

The best way to use IO.select is invoking it after nonblocking methods such as read_nonblock, write_nonblock, etc. The methods raises an exception which is extended by IO::WaitReadable or IO::WaitWritable. The modules notify how the caller should wait with IO.select. If IO::WaitReadable is raised, the caller should wait for reading. If IO::WaitWritable is raised, the caller should wait for writing.

So, blocking read (readpartial) can be emulated using read_nonblock and IO.select as follows:

begin
  result = io_like.read_nonblock(maxlen)
rescue IO::WaitReadable
  IO.select([io_like])
  retry
rescue IO::WaitWritable
  IO.select(nil, [io_like])
  retry
end

Especially, the combination of nonblocking methods and IO.select is preferred for IO like objects such as OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket. It has to_io method to return underlying IO object. IO.select calls to_io to obtain the file descriptor to wait.

This means that readability notified by IO.select doesn't mean readability from OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket object.

Most possible situation is OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket buffers some data. IO.select doesn't see the buffer. So IO.select can block when OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket#readpartial doesn't block.

However several more complicated situation exists.

SSL is a protocol which is sequence of records. The record consists multiple bytes. So, the remote side of SSL sends a partial record, IO.select notifies readability but OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket cannot decrypt a byte and OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket#readpartial will blocks.

Also, the remote side can request SSL renegotiation which forces the local SSL engine writes some data. This means OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket#readpartial may invoke write system call and it can block. In such situation, OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket#read_nonblock raises IO::WaitWritable instead of blocking. So, the caller should wait for ready for writability as above example.

The combination of nonblocking methods and IO.select is also useful for streams such as tty, pipe socket socket when multiple process read form a stream.

Finally, Linux kernel developers doesn't guarantee that readability of select(2) means readability of following read(2) even for single process. See select(2) manual on GNU/Linux system.

Invoking IO.select before IO#readpartial works well in usual. However it is not the best way to use IO.select.

The writability notified by select(2) doesn't show how many bytes writable. IO#write method blocks until given whole string is written. So, IO#write(two or more bytes) can block after writability is notified by IO.select. IO#write_nonblock is required to avoid the blocking.

Blocking write (write) can be emulated using write_nonblock and IO.select as follows: IO::WaitReadable should also be rescued for SSL renegotiation in OpenSSL::SSL::SSLSocket.

while 0 < string.bytesize
  begin
    written = io_like.write_nonblock(string)
  rescue IO::WaitReadable
    IO.select([io_like])
    retry
  rescue IO::WaitWritable
    IO.select(nil, [io_like])
    retry
  end
  string = string.byteslice(written..-1)
end

Parameters¶ ↑

read_array

an array of IO objects that wait until ready for read

write_array

an array of IO objects that wait until ready for write

error_array

an array of IO objects that wait for exceptions

timeout

a numeric value in second

Example¶ ↑

rp, wp = IO.pipe
mesg = "ping "
100.times {
  # IO.select follows IO#read.  Not the best way to use IO.select.
  rs, ws, = IO.select([rp], [wp])
  if r = rs[0]
    ret = r.read(5)
    print ret
    case ret
    when /ping/
      mesg = "pong\n"
    when /pong/
      mesg = "ping "
    end
  end
  if w = ws[0]
    w.write(mesg)
  end
}

produces:

ping pong
ping pong
ping pong
(snipped)
ping

 
               static VALUE
rb_f_select(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE obj)
{
    VALUE timeout;
    struct select_args args;
    struct timeval timerec;
    int i;

    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "13", &args.read, &args.write, &args.except, &timeout);
    if (NIL_P(timeout)) {
        args.timeout = 0;
    }
    else {
        timerec = rb_time_interval(timeout);
        args.timeout = &timerec;
    }

    for (i = 0; i < numberof(args.fdsets); ++i)
        rb_fd_init(&args.fdsets[i]);

    return rb_ensure(select_call, (VALUE)&args, select_end, (VALUE)&args);
}
            

Opens the given path, returning the underlying file descriptor as a Fixnum.

IO.sysopen("testfile")   #=> 3

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_sysopen(int argc, VALUE *argv)
{
    VALUE fname, vmode, vperm;
    VALUE intmode;
    int oflags, fd;
    mode_t perm;

    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "12", &fname, &vmode, &vperm);
    FilePathValue(fname);

    if (NIL_P(vmode))
        oflags = O_RDONLY;
    else if (!NIL_P(intmode = rb_check_to_integer(vmode, "to_int")))
        oflags = NUM2INT(intmode);
    else {
        SafeStringValue(vmode);
        oflags = rb_io_modestr_oflags(StringValueCStr(vmode));
    }
    if (NIL_P(vperm)) perm = 0666;
    else              perm = NUM2MODET(vperm);

    RB_GC_GUARD(fname) = rb_str_new4(fname);
    fd = rb_sysopen(fname, oflags, perm);
    return INT2NUM(fd);
}
            

Try to convert obj into an IO, using #to_io method. Returns converted IO or nil if obj cannot be converted for any reason.

IO.try_convert(STDOUT)     #=> STDOUT
IO.try_convert("STDOUT")   #=> nil

require 'zlib'
f = open("/tmp/zz.gz")       #=> #<File:/tmp/zz.gz>
z = Zlib::GzipReader.open(f) #=> #<Zlib::GzipReader:0x81d8744>
IO.try_convert(z)            #=> #<File:/tmp/zz.gz>

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_try_convert(VALUE dummy, VALUE io)
{
    return rb_io_check_io(io);
}
            

Opens the file, optionally seeks to the given offset, writes string, then returns the length written. write ensures the file is closed before returning. If offset is not given, the file is truncated. Otherwise, it is not truncated.

If the last argument is a hash, it specifies option for internal open(). The key would be the following. open_args: is exclusive to others.

encoding: string or encoding

 specifies encoding of the read string.  encoding will be ignored
 if length is specified.

mode: string

 specifies mode argument for open().  it should start with "w" or "a" or "r+"
 otherwise it would cause error.

perm: fixnum

 specifies perm argument for open().

open_args: array

 specifies arguments for open() as an array.

  IO.write("testfile", "0123456789", 20) # => 10
  # File could contain:  "This is line one\nThi0123456789two\nThis is line three\nAnd so on...\n"
  IO.write("testfile", "0123456789")      #=> 10
  # File would now read: "0123456789"

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_s_write(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    return io_s_write(argc, argv, 0);
}
            

String Output—Writes obj to ios. obj will be converted to a string using to_s.

$stdout << "Hello " << "world!\n"

produces:

Hello world!

 
               VALUE
rb_io_addstr(VALUE io, VALUE str)
{
    rb_io_write(io, str);
    return io;
}
            

Announce an intention to access data from the current file in a specific pattern. On platforms that do not support the posix_fadvise(2) system call, this method is a no-op.

advice is one of the following symbols:

:normal

No advice to give; the default assumption for an open file.

:sequential

The data will be accessed sequentially with lower offsets read before higher ones.

:random

The data will be accessed in random order.

:willneed

The data will be accessed in the near future.

:dontneed

The data will not be accessed in the near future.

:noreuse

The data will only be accessed once.

The semantics of a piece of advice are platform-dependent. See man 2 posix_fadvise for details.

“data” means the region of the current file that begins at offset and extends for len bytes. If len is 0, the region ends at the last byte of the file. By default, both offset and len are 0, meaning that the advice applies to the entire file.

If an error occurs, one of the following exceptions will be raised:

IOError

The IO stream is closed.

Errno::EBADF

The file descriptor of the current file is invalid.

Errno::EINVAL

An invalid value for advice was given.

Errno::ESPIPE

The file descriptor of the current file refers to a FIFO or pipe. (Linux raises Errno::EINVAL in this case).

TypeError

Either advice was not a Symbol, or one of the other arguments was not an Integer.

RangeError

One of the arguments given was too big/small.

This list is not exhaustive; other Errno

exceptions are also possible.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_advise(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE advice, offset, len;
    off_t off, l;
    rb_io_t *fptr;

    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "12", &advice, &offset, &len);
    advice_arg_check(advice);

    io = GetWriteIO(io);
    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);

    off = NIL_P(offset) ? 0 : NUM2OFFT(offset);
    l   = NIL_P(len)    ? 0 : NUM2OFFT(len);

#ifdef HAVE_POSIX_FADVISE
    return do_io_advise(fptr, advice, off, l);
#else
    ((void)off, (void)l);       /* Ignore all hint */
    return Qnil;
#endif
}
            

Sets auto-close flag.

f = open("/dev/null")
IO.for_fd(f.fileno)
# ...
f.gets # may cause IOError

f = open("/dev/null")
IO.for_fd(f.fileno).autoclose = true
# ...
f.gets # won't cause IOError

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_set_autoclose(VALUE io, VALUE autoclose)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    if (!RTEST(autoclose))
        fptr->mode |= FMODE_PREP;
    else
        fptr->mode &= ~FMODE_PREP;
    return io;
}
            

Returns true if the underlying file descriptor of ios will be closed automatically at its finalization, otherwise false.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_autoclose_p(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    return (fptr->mode & FMODE_PREP) ? Qfalse : Qtrue;
}
            

Puts ios into binary mode. Once a stream is in binary mode, it cannot be reset to nonbinary mode.

• newline conversion disabled

• encoding conversion disabled

• content is treated as ASCII-8BIT

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_binmode_m(VALUE io)
{
    VALUE write_io;

    rb_io_ascii8bit_binmode(io);

    write_io = GetWriteIO(io);
    if (write_io != io)
        rb_io_ascii8bit_binmode(write_io);
    return io;
}
            

Returns true if ios is binmode.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_binmode_p(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    return fptr->mode & FMODE_BINMODE ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
}
            

This is a deprecated alias for each_byte.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_bytes(VALUE io)
{
    rb_warn("IO#bytes is deprecated; use #each_byte instead");
    if (!rb_block_given_p())
        return rb_enumeratorize(io, ID2SYM(rb_intern("each_byte")), 0, 0);
    return rb_io_each_byte(io);
}
            

This is a deprecated alias for each_char.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_chars(VALUE io)
{
    rb_warn("IO#chars is deprecated; use #each_char instead");
    if (!rb_block_given_p())
        return rb_enumeratorize(io, ID2SYM(rb_intern("each_char")), 0, 0);
    return rb_io_each_char(io);
}
            

Closes ios and flushes any pending writes to the operating system. The stream is unavailable for any further data operations; an IOError is raised if such an attempt is made. I/O streams are automatically closed when they are claimed by the garbage collector.

If ios is opened by IO.popen, close sets $?.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_close_m(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_check_closed(RFILE(io)->fptr);
    rb_io_close(io);
    return Qnil;
}
            

Sets a close-on-exec flag.

f = open("/dev/null")
f.close_on_exec = true
system("cat", "/proc/self/fd/#{f.fileno}") # cat: /proc/self/fd/3: No such file or directory
f.closed?                #=> false

Ruby sets close-on-exec flags of all file descriptors by default since Ruby 2.0.0. So you don't need to set by yourself. Also, unsetting a close-on-exec flag can cause file descriptor leak if another thread use fork() and exec() (via system() method for example). If you really needs file descriptor inheritance to child process, use spawn()'s argument such as fd=>fd.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_set_close_on_exec(VALUE io, VALUE arg)
{
    int flag = RTEST(arg) ? FD_CLOEXEC : 0;
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    VALUE write_io;
    int fd, ret;

    write_io = GetWriteIO(io);
    if (io != write_io) {
        GetOpenFile(write_io, fptr);
        if (fptr && 0 <= (fd = fptr->fd)) {
            if ((ret = fcntl(fptr->fd, F_GETFD)) == -1) rb_sys_fail_path(fptr->pathv);
            if ((ret & FD_CLOEXEC) != flag) {
                ret = (ret & ~FD_CLOEXEC) | flag;
                ret = fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, ret);
                if (ret == -1) rb_sys_fail_path(fptr->pathv);
            }
        }

    }

    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    if (fptr && 0 <= (fd = fptr->fd)) {
        if ((ret = fcntl(fd, F_GETFD)) == -1) rb_sys_fail_path(fptr->pathv);
        if ((ret & FD_CLOEXEC) != flag) {
            ret = (ret & ~FD_CLOEXEC) | flag;
            ret = fcntl(fd, F_SETFD, ret);
            if (ret == -1) rb_sys_fail_path(fptr->pathv);
        }
    }
    return Qnil;
}
            

Returns true if ios will be closed on exec.

f = open("/dev/null")
f.close_on_exec?                 #=> false
f.close_on_exec = true
f.close_on_exec?                 #=> true
f.close_on_exec = false
f.close_on_exec?                 #=> false

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_close_on_exec_p(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    VALUE write_io;
    int fd, ret;

    write_io = GetWriteIO(io);
    if (io != write_io) {
        GetOpenFile(write_io, fptr);
        if (fptr && 0 <= (fd = fptr->fd)) {
            if ((ret = fcntl(fd, F_GETFD)) == -1) rb_sys_fail_path(fptr->pathv);
            if (!(ret & FD_CLOEXEC)) return Qfalse;
        }
    }

    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    if (fptr && 0 <= (fd = fptr->fd)) {
        if ((ret = fcntl(fd, F_GETFD)) == -1) rb_sys_fail_path(fptr->pathv);
        if (!(ret & FD_CLOEXEC)) return Qfalse;
    }
    return Qtrue;
}
            

Closes the read end of a duplex I/O stream (i.e., one that contains both a read and a write stream, such as a pipe). Will raise an IOError if the stream is not duplexed.

f = IO.popen("/bin/sh","r+")
f.close_read
f.readlines

produces:

prog.rb:3:in `readlines': not opened for reading (IOError)
 from prog.rb:3

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_close_read(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    VALUE write_io;

    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    if (is_socket(fptr->fd, fptr->pathv)) {
#ifndef SHUT_RD
# define SHUT_RD 0
#endif
        if (shutdown(fptr->fd, SHUT_RD) < 0)
            rb_sys_fail_path(fptr->pathv);
        fptr->mode &= ~FMODE_READABLE;
        if (!(fptr->mode & FMODE_WRITABLE))
            return rb_io_close(io);
        return Qnil;
    }

    write_io = GetWriteIO(io);
    if (io != write_io) {
        rb_io_t *wfptr;
        GetOpenFile(write_io, wfptr);
        wfptr->pid = fptr->pid;
        fptr->pid = 0;
        RFILE(io)->fptr = wfptr;
        /* bind to write_io temporarily to get rid of memory/fd leak */
        fptr->tied_io_for_writing = 0;
        fptr->mode &= ~FMODE_DUPLEX;
        RFILE(write_io)->fptr = fptr;
        rb_io_fptr_cleanup(fptr, FALSE);
        /* should not finalize fptr because another thread may be reading it */
        return Qnil;
    }

    if (fptr->mode & FMODE_WRITABLE) {
        rb_raise(rb_eIOError, "closing non-duplex IO for reading");
    }
    return rb_io_close(io);
}
            

Closes the write end of a duplex I/O stream (i.e., one that contains both a read and a write stream, such as a pipe). Will raise an IOError if the stream is not duplexed.

f = IO.popen("/bin/sh","r+")
f.close_write
f.print "nowhere"

produces:

prog.rb:3:in `write': not opened for writing (IOError)
 from prog.rb:3:in `print'
 from prog.rb:3

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_close_write(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    VALUE write_io;

    write_io = GetWriteIO(io);
    GetOpenFile(write_io, fptr);
    if (is_socket(fptr->fd, fptr->pathv)) {
#ifndef SHUT_WR
# define SHUT_WR 1
#endif
        if (shutdown(fptr->fd, SHUT_WR) < 0)
            rb_sys_fail_path(fptr->pathv);
        fptr->mode &= ~FMODE_WRITABLE;
        if (!(fptr->mode & FMODE_READABLE))
            return rb_io_close(write_io);
        return Qnil;
    }

    if (fptr->mode & FMODE_READABLE) {
        rb_raise(rb_eIOError, "closing non-duplex IO for writing");
    }

    if (io != write_io) {
        GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
        fptr->tied_io_for_writing = 0;
        fptr->mode &= ~FMODE_DUPLEX;
    }
    rb_io_close(write_io);
    return Qnil;
}
            

Returns true if ios is completely closed (for duplex streams, both reader and writer), false otherwise.

f = File.new("testfile")
f.close         #=> nil
f.closed?       #=> true
f = IO.popen("/bin/sh","r+")
f.close_write   #=> nil
f.closed?       #=> false
f.close_read    #=> nil
f.closed?       #=> true

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_closed(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    VALUE write_io;
    rb_io_t *write_fptr;

    write_io = GetWriteIO(io);
    if (io != write_io) {
        write_fptr = RFILE(write_io)->fptr;
        if (write_fptr && 0 <= write_fptr->fd) {
            return Qfalse;
        }
    }

    fptr = RFILE(io)->fptr;
    rb_io_check_initialized(fptr);
    return 0 <= fptr->fd ? Qfalse : Qtrue;
}
            

This is a deprecated alias for each_codepoint.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_codepoints(VALUE io)
{
    rb_warn("IO#codepoints is deprecated; use #each_codepoint instead");
    if (!rb_block_given_p())
        return rb_enumeratorize(io, ID2SYM(rb_intern("each_codepoint")), 0, 0);
    return rb_io_each_codepoint(io);
}
            

Executes the block for every line in ios, where lines are separated by sep. ios must be opened for reading or an IOError will be raised.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

f = File.new("testfile")
f.each {|line| puts "#{f.lineno}: #{line}" }

produces:

1: This is line one
2: This is line two
3: This is line three
4: And so on...

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_each_line(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE str, rs;
    long limit;

    RETURN_ENUMERATOR(io, argc, argv);
    prepare_getline_args(argc, argv, &rs, &limit, io);
    if (limit == 0)
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "invalid limit: 0 for each_line");
    while (!NIL_P(str = rb_io_getline_1(rs, limit, io))) {
        rb_yield(str);
    }
    return io;
}
            

Calls the given block once for each byte (0..255) in ios, passing the byte as an argument. The stream must be opened for reading or an IOError will be raised.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

f = File.new("testfile")
checksum = 0
f.each_byte {|x| checksum ^= x }   #=> #<File:testfile>
checksum                           #=> 12

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_each_byte(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;

    RETURN_ENUMERATOR(io, 0, 0);
    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);

    do {
        while (fptr->rbuf.len > 0) {
            char *p = fptr->rbuf.ptr + fptr->rbuf.off++;
            fptr->rbuf.len--;
            rb_yield(INT2FIX(*p & 0xff));
            errno = 0;
        }
        rb_io_check_byte_readable(fptr);
        READ_CHECK(fptr);
    } while (io_fillbuf(fptr) >= 0);
    return io;
}
            

Calls the given block once for each character in ios, passing the character as an argument. The stream must be opened for reading or an IOError will be raised.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

f = File.new("testfile")
f.each_char {|c| print c, ' ' }   #=> #<File:testfile>

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_each_char(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    rb_encoding *enc;
    VALUE c;

    RETURN_ENUMERATOR(io, 0, 0);
    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    rb_io_check_char_readable(fptr);

    enc = io_input_encoding(fptr);
    READ_CHECK(fptr);
    while (!NIL_P(c = io_getc(fptr, enc))) {
        rb_yield(c);
    }
    return io;
}
            

Passes the Integer ordinal of each character in ios, passing the codepoint as an argument. The stream must be opened for reading or an IOError will be raised.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_each_codepoint(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;
    rb_encoding *enc;
    unsigned int c;
    int r, n;

    RETURN_ENUMERATOR(io, 0, 0);
    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    rb_io_check_char_readable(fptr);

    READ_CHECK(fptr);
    if (NEED_READCONV(fptr)) {
        SET_BINARY_MODE(fptr);
        for (;;) {
            make_readconv(fptr, 0);
            for (;;) {
                if (fptr->cbuf.len) {
                    if (fptr->encs.enc)
                        r = rb_enc_precise_mbclen(fptr->cbuf.ptr+fptr->cbuf.off,
                                                  fptr->cbuf.ptr+fptr->cbuf.off+fptr->cbuf.len,
                                                  fptr->encs.enc);
                    else
                        r = ONIGENC_CONSTRUCT_MBCLEN_CHARFOUND(1);
                    if (!MBCLEN_NEEDMORE_P(r))
                        break;
                    if (fptr->cbuf.len == fptr->cbuf.capa) {
                        rb_raise(rb_eIOError, "too long character");
                    }
                }
                if (more_char(fptr) == MORE_CHAR_FINISHED) {
                    clear_readconv(fptr);
                    /* ignore an incomplete character before EOF */
                    return io;
                }
            }
            if (MBCLEN_INVALID_P(r)) {
                rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "invalid byte sequence in %s",
                         rb_enc_name(fptr->encs.enc));
            }
            n = MBCLEN_CHARFOUND_LEN(r);
            if (fptr->encs.enc) {
                c = rb_enc_codepoint(fptr->cbuf.ptr+fptr->cbuf.off,
                                     fptr->cbuf.ptr+fptr->cbuf.off+fptr->cbuf.len,
                                     fptr->encs.enc);
            }
            else {
                c = (unsigned char)fptr->cbuf.ptr[fptr->cbuf.off];
            }
            fptr->cbuf.off += n;
            fptr->cbuf.len -= n;
            rb_yield(UINT2NUM(c));
        }
    }
    NEED_NEWLINE_DECORATOR_ON_READ_CHECK(fptr);
    enc = io_input_encoding(fptr);
    while (io_fillbuf(fptr) >= 0) {
        r = rb_enc_precise_mbclen(fptr->rbuf.ptr+fptr->rbuf.off,
                                  fptr->rbuf.ptr+fptr->rbuf.off+fptr->rbuf.len, enc);
        if (MBCLEN_CHARFOUND_P(r) &&
            (n = MBCLEN_CHARFOUND_LEN(r)) <= fptr->rbuf.len) {
            c = rb_enc_codepoint(fptr->rbuf.ptr+fptr->rbuf.off,
                                 fptr->rbuf.ptr+fptr->rbuf.off+fptr->rbuf.len, enc);
            fptr->rbuf.off += n;
            fptr->rbuf.len -= n;
            rb_yield(UINT2NUM(c));
        }
        else if (MBCLEN_INVALID_P(r)) {
            rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "invalid byte sequence in %s", rb_enc_name(enc));
        }
        else {
            continue;
        }
    }
    return io;
}
            

Executes the block for every line in ios, where lines are separated by sep. ios must be opened for reading or an IOError will be raised.

If no block is given, an enumerator is returned instead.

f = File.new("testfile")
f.each {|line| puts "#{f.lineno}: #{line}" }

produces:

1: This is line one
2: This is line two
3: This is line three
4: And so on...

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_each_line(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE str, rs;
    long limit;

    RETURN_ENUMERATOR(io, argc, argv);
    prepare_getline_args(argc, argv, &rs, &limit, io);
    if (limit == 0)
        rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "invalid limit: 0 for each_line");
    while (!NIL_P(str = rb_io_getline_1(rs, limit, io))) {
        rb_yield(str);
    }
    return io;
}
            

Returns true if ios is at end of file that means there are no more data to read. The stream must be opened for reading or an IOError will be raised.

f = File.new("testfile")
dummy = f.readlines
f.eof   #=> true

If ios is a stream such as pipe or socket, IO#eof? blocks until the other end sends some data or closes it.

r, w = IO.pipe
Thread.new { sleep 1; w.close }
r.eof?  #=> true after 1 second blocking

r, w = IO.pipe
Thread.new { sleep 1; w.puts "a" }
r.eof?  #=> false after 1 second blocking

r, w = IO.pipe
r.eof?  # blocks forever

Note that IO#eof? reads data to the input byte buffer. So IO#sysread may not behave as you intend with IO#eof?, unless you call IO#rewind first (which is not available for some streams).

 
               VALUE
rb_io_eof(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;

    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    rb_io_check_char_readable(fptr);

    if (READ_CHAR_PENDING(fptr)) return Qfalse;
    if (READ_DATA_PENDING(fptr)) return Qfalse;
    READ_CHECK(fptr);
#if defined(RUBY_TEST_CRLF_ENVIRONMENT) || defined(_WIN32)
    if (!NEED_READCONV(fptr) && NEED_NEWLINE_DECORATOR_ON_READ(fptr)) {
        return eof(fptr->fd) ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
    }
#endif
    if (io_fillbuf(fptr) < 0) {
        return Qtrue;
    }
    return Qfalse;
}
            

Returns true if ios is at end of file that means there are no more data to read. The stream must be opened for reading or an IOError will be raised.

f = File.new("testfile")
dummy = f.readlines
f.eof   #=> true

If ios is a stream such as pipe or socket, IO#eof? blocks until the other end sends some data or closes it.

r, w = IO.pipe
Thread.new { sleep 1; w.close }
r.eof?  #=> true after 1 second blocking

r, w = IO.pipe
Thread.new { sleep 1; w.puts "a" }
r.eof?  #=> false after 1 second blocking

r, w = IO.pipe
r.eof?  # blocks forever

Note that IO#eof? reads data to the input byte buffer. So IO#sysread may not behave as you intend with IO#eof?, unless you call IO#rewind first (which is not available for some streams).

 
               VALUE
rb_io_eof(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;

    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    rb_io_check_char_readable(fptr);

    if (READ_CHAR_PENDING(fptr)) return Qfalse;
    if (READ_DATA_PENDING(fptr)) return Qfalse;
    READ_CHECK(fptr);
#if defined(RUBY_TEST_CRLF_ENVIRONMENT) || defined(_WIN32)
    if (!NEED_READCONV(fptr) && NEED_NEWLINE_DECORATOR_ON_READ(fptr)) {
        return eof(fptr->fd) ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
    }
#endif
    if (io_fillbuf(fptr) < 0) {
        return Qtrue;
    }
    return Qfalse;
}
            

Returns the Encoding object that represents the encoding of the file. If io is write mode and no encoding is specified, returns nil.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_external_encoding(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;

    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);
    if (fptr->encs.enc2) {
        return rb_enc_from_encoding(fptr->encs.enc2);
    }
    if (fptr->mode & FMODE_WRITABLE) {
        if (fptr->encs.enc)
            return rb_enc_from_encoding(fptr->encs.enc);
        return Qnil;
    }
    return rb_enc_from_encoding(io_read_encoding(fptr));
}
            

Provides a mechanism for issuing low-level commands to control or query file-oriented I/O streams. Arguments and results are platform dependent. If arg is a number, its value is passed directly. If it is a string, it is interpreted as a binary sequence of bytes (Array#pack might be a useful way to build this string). On Unix platforms, see fcntl(2) for details. Not implemented on all platforms.

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_fcntl(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE io)
{
    VALUE req, arg;

    rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &req, &arg);
    return rb_fcntl(io, req, arg);
}
            

Immediately writes all buffered data in ios to disk.

If the underlying operating system does not support fdatasync(2), IO#fsync is called instead (which might raise a NotImplementedError).

 
               static VALUE
rb_io_fdatasync(VALUE io)
{
    rb_io_t *fptr;

    io = GetWriteIO(io);
    GetOpenFile(io, fptr);

    if (io_fflush(fptr) < 0)
        rb_sys_fail(0);

    if ((int)rb_thread_io_blocking_region(nogvl_fdatasync, fptr, fptr->fd) == 0)
        return INT2FIX(0);

    /* fall back */
    return rb_io_fsync(io);
}