.TH ACCESS 2 .CT 2 dirs file_inq_creat secur .SH NAME access \(mi determine accessibility of file .SH SYNOPSIS .nf .B int access(name, mode) .B char *name; .fi .SH DESCRIPTION .I Access checks the given file .I name for accessibility. If \fImode\fL&4\fR is nonzero, read permission is expected; if \fImode\fL&2\fR, write permission; if \fImode\fL&1\fR, execute permission. If \fImode\fL==0\fR, the file merely need exist. In any case all directories leading to the file must permit searches. 0 is returned if the desired access is permitted, \-1 if not. .PP Permission is checked against the real userid and groupid of the process; this call is best used with set-userid and set-groupid programs. .PP Only access bits are checked. A directory may be announced as writable by .IR access , but an attempt to open it for writing will fail (although files may be created there); a file may look executable, but .IR exec (2) will fail unless it is in proper format. .PP .SH SEE ALSO .IR stat (2) .SH DIAGNOSTICS .BR EACCES , .BR EFAULT , .BR EIO , .BR ELOOP , .BR ENOENT , .BR ENOTDIR , .BR EROFS , .BR ETXTBSY