ELF_NEXT(3)               Libelf Programmer's Manual               ELF_NEXT(3)



NAME
       elf_next - advance an ELF descriptor to the next archive member


SYNOPSIS
       #include <libelf.h>

       Elf_Cmd elf_next(Elf *elf);

DESCRIPTION
       Advance an ELF descriptor associated with an archive file to the next
       available archive member.


       ELF descriptors initialized from an archive file can be used to
       retrieve ELF descriptors for archive members one at a time using
       elf_begin(3).  elf_next(3) updates the archive descriptor so that
       elf_begin(3) returns the ELF descriptor of the next member of the
       archive.  See the EXAMPLES section below.


RETURN VALUE
       If elf refers to an archive member, update the state of the parent
       archive ELF descriptor associated with elf so that the next archive
       member can be retrieved with elf_begin(3).  Return the Elf_Cmd that was
       used with elf_begin(3) to initialize elf.


       If elf was not initialized from an archive file or there are no more
       archive members, elf_next(3) returns ELF_C_NULL.


EXAMPLES
         /* Open the archive.  */
         fd = open (archive_name, O_RDONLY);
         if (fd == -1)
           {
             printf ("cannot open archive file `%s'", fname);
             exit (1);
           }

         /* Set the ELF version.  */
         elf_version (EV_CURRENT);

         /* Create an ELF descriptor for the archive.  */
         cmd = ELF_C_READ;
         elf = elf_begin (fd, cmd, NULL);
         if (elf == NULL)
           {
             printf ("cannot create ELF descriptor: %s\n", elf_errmsg (-1));
             exit (1);
           }

         /* Verify this is a descriptor for an archive.  */
         if (elf_kind (elf) != ELF_K_AR)
           {
             printf ("`%s' is not an archive\n", fname);
             exit (1);
           }

         /* Get the members of the archive one after the other.  */
         while ((subelf = elf_begin (fd, cmd, elf)) != NULL)
           {
             /* Process subelf here */
             [...]

             /* elf_next updates elf, the parent archive, so that the next call
                to elf_begin returns the next archive member.  */
             cmd = elf_next (subelf);
             if (elf_end (subelf) != 0)
               {
                 printf ("error while freeing sub-ELF descriptor: %s\n",
                         elf_errmsg (-1));
                 exit (1);
               }
           }

         elf_end (elf);
         close (fd);


SEE ALSO
       elf_begin(3), elf_rand(3), libelf(3), elf(5)


ATTRIBUTES

       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+
       |Interface                                   | Attribute     | Value   |
       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+
       |elf_next ()                                 | Thread safety | MT-Safe |
       +--------------------------------------------+---------------+---------+

REPORTING BUGS
       Report bugs to <elfutils-devel@sourceware.org> or
       https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/.

Libelf                            2025-06-06                       ELF_NEXT(3)