getpt(3) Library Functions Manual getpt(3)

getpt - open a new pseudoterminal master

Standard C library (libc, -lc)

#define _GNU_SOURCE             /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <stdlib.h>
int getpt(void);

getpt() opens a new pseudoterminal device and returns a file descriptor that refers to that device. It is equivalent to opening the pseudoterminal multiplexor device


open("/dev/ptmx", O_RDWR);

on Linux systems, though the pseudoterminal multiplexor device is located elsewhere on some systems that use the GNU C library.

getpt() returns an open file descriptor upon successful completion. Otherwise, it returns -1 and sets errno to indicate the error.

getpt() can fail with various errors described in open(2).

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

Interface Attribute Value
getpt () Thread safety MT-Safe

Use posix_openpt(3) instead.

GNU.

glibc 2.1.

grantpt(3), posix_openpt(3), ptsname(3), unlockpt(3), ptmx(4), pty(7)

2023-10-31 Linux man-pages 6.7