std::setvbuf - cppreference.com (original) (raw)

Changes the buffering mode of the given file stream stream as indicated by the argument mode. In addition,

[edit] Parameters

stream - the file stream to set the buffer to
buffer - pointer to a buffer for the stream to use or null pointer to change size and mode only
mode - buffering mode to use. It can be one of the following values:
size - size of the buffer

[edit] Return value

​0​ on success or nonzero on failure.

[edit] Notes

This function may only be used after stream has been associated with an open file, but before any other operation (other than a failed call to std::setbuf/std::setvbuf).

Not all size bytes will necessarily be used for buffering: the actual buffer size is usually rounded down to a multiple of 2, a multiple of page size, etc.

On many implementations, line buffering is only available for terminal input streams.

A common error is setting the buffer of stdin or stdout to an array whose lifetime ends before the program terminates:

int main() { char buf[BUFSIZ]; std::setbuf(stdin, buf); } // lifetime of buf ends, undefined behavior

The default buffer size BUFSIZ is expected to be the most efficient buffer size for file I/O on the implementation, but POSIX fstat often provides a better estimate.

[edit] Example

One use case for changing buffer size is when a better size is known.

Possible output:

BUFSIZ is 8192, but optimal block size is 65536

[edit] See also

| | sets the buffer for a file stream (function) [edit] | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | provides user-supplied buffer or turns this filebuf unbuffered (virtual protected member function of std::basic_filebuf<CharT,Traits>) [edit] | | |