# Miscellaneous utilities

This section contains miscellaneous functions that don’t really belong in any other section.

## Data types

type uv_buf_t

  Buffer data type.

  char *uv_buf_t.base

    Pointer to the base of the buffer.

  size_t uv_buf_t.len

    Total bytes in the buffer.

    Note

    On Windows this field is ULONG.

typedef void *(*uv_malloc_func)(size_t size)

  Replacement function for malloc(3). See `uv_replace_allocator()`.

typedef void *(*uv_realloc_func)(void *ptr, size_t size)

  Replacement function for realloc(3). See `uv_replace_allocator()`.

typedef void *(*uv_calloc_func)(size_t count, size_t size)

  Replacement function for calloc(3). See `uv_replace_allocator()`.

typedef void (*uv_free_func)(void *ptr)

  Replacement function for free(3). See `uv_replace_allocator()`.

typedef void (*uv_random_cb)(uv_random_t *req, int status, void *buf, size_t buflen)

  Callback passed to `uv_random()`. status is non-zero in case of error. The buf pointer is the same pointer that was passed to `uv_random()`.

type uv_file

  Cross platform representation of a file handle.

type uv_os_sock_t

  Cross platform representation of a socket handle.

type uv_os_fd_t

  Abstract representation of a file descriptor. On Unix systems this is a typedef of int and on Windows a HANDLE.

type uv_pid_t

  Cross platform representation of a pid_t.

  New in version 1.16.0.

type uv_timeval_t

  Data type for storing times.

      typedef struct {
          long tv_sec;
          long tv_usec;
      } uv_timeval_t;

type uv_timeval64_t

  Alternative data type for storing times.

      typedef struct {
          int64_t tv_sec;
          int32_t tv_usec;
      } uv_timeval64_t;

type uv_rusage_t

  Data type for resource usage results.

      typedef struct {
          uv_timeval_t ru_utime; /* user CPU time used */
          uv_timeval_t ru_stime; /* system CPU time used */
          uint64_t ru_maxrss; /* maximum resident set size */
          uint64_t ru_ixrss; /* integral shared memory size (X) */
          uint64_t ru_idrss; /* integral unshared data size (X) */
          uint64_t ru_isrss; /* integral unshared stack size (X) */
          uint64_t ru_minflt; /* page reclaims (soft page faults) (X) */
          uint64_t ru_majflt; /* page faults (hard page faults) */
          uint64_t ru_nswap; /* swaps (X) */
          uint64_t ru_inblock; /* block input operations */
          uint64_t ru_oublock; /* block output operations */
          uint64_t ru_msgsnd; /* IPC messages sent (X) */
          uint64_t ru_msgrcv; /* IPC messages received (X) */
          uint64_t ru_nsignals; /* signals received (X) */
          uint64_t ru_nvcsw; /* voluntary context switches (X) */
          uint64_t ru_nivcsw; /* involuntary context switches (X) */
      } uv_rusage_t;

  Members marked with (X) are unsupported on Windows. See getrusage(2) for supported fields on Unix

type uv_cpu_info_t

  Data type for CPU information.

      typedef struct uv_cpu_info_s {
          char* model;
          int speed;
          struct uv_cpu_times_s {
              uint64_t user; /* milliseconds */
              uint64_t nice; /* milliseconds */
              uint64_t sys; /* milliseconds */
              uint64_t idle; /* milliseconds */
              uint64_t irq; /* milliseconds */
          } cpu_times;
      } uv_cpu_info_t;

type uv_interface_address_t

  Data type for interface addresses.

      typedef struct uv_interface_address_s {
          char* name;
          char phys_addr[6];
          int is_internal;
          union {
              struct sockaddr_in address4;
              struct sockaddr_in6 address6;
          } address;
          union {
              struct sockaddr_in netmask4;
              struct sockaddr_in6 netmask6;
          } netmask;
      } uv_interface_address_t;

type uv_passwd_t

  Data type for password file information.

      typedef struct uv_passwd_s {
          char* username;
          long uid;
          long gid;
          char* shell;
          char* homedir;
      } uv_passwd_t;

type uv_utsname_t

  Data type for operating system name and version information.

      typedef struct uv_utsname_s {
          char sysname[256];
          char release[256];
          char version[256];
          char machine[256];
      } uv_utsname_t;

type uv_env_item_t

  Data type for environment variable storage.

      typedef struct uv_env_item_s {
          char* name;
          char* value;
      } uv_env_item_t;

type uv_random_t

  Random data request type.

## API

uv_handle_type uv_guess_handle(uv_file file)

  Used to detect what type of stream should be used with a given file descriptor. Usually this will be used during initialization to guess the type of the stdio streams.

  For isatty(3) equivalent functionality use this function and test for `UV_TTY`.

int uv_replace_allocator(uv_malloc_func malloc_func, uv_realloc_func realloc_func, uv_calloc_func calloc_func, uv_free_func free_func)

  New in version 1.6.0.

  Override the use of the standard library’s malloc(3), calloc(3), realloc(3), free(3), memory allocation functions.

  This function must be called before any other libuv function is called or after all resources have been freed and thus libuv doesn’t reference any allocated memory chunk.

  On success, it returns 0, if any of the function pointers is NULL it returns UV_EINVAL.

  Warning

  There is no protection against changing the allocator multiple times. If the user changes it they are responsible for making sure the allocator is changed while no memory was allocated with the previous allocator, or that they are compatible.

  Warning

  Allocator must be thread-safe.

void uv_library_shutdown(void);

  New in version 1.38.0.

  Release any global state that libuv is holding onto. Libuv will normally do so automatically when it is unloaded but it can be instructed to perform cleanup manually.

  Warning

  Only call `uv_library_shutdown()` once.

  Warning

  Don’t call `uv_library_shutdown()` when there are still event loops or I/O requests active.

  Warning

  Don’t call libuv functions after calling `uv_library_shutdown()`.

uv_buf_t uv_buf_init(char *base, unsigned int len)

  Constructor for `uv_buf_t`.

  Due to platform differences the user cannot rely on the ordering of the base and len members of the uv_buf_t struct. The user is responsible for freeing base after the uv_buf_t is done. Return struct passed by value.

char **uv_setup_args(int argc, char **argv)

  Store the program arguments. Required for getting / setting the process title or the executable path. Libuv may take ownership of the memory that argv points to. This function should be called exactly once, at program start-up.

  Example:

      argv = uv_setup_args(argc, argv);  /* May return a copy of argv. */

int uv_get_process_title(char *buffer, size_t size)

  Gets the title of the current process. You must call uv_setup_args before calling this function on Unix and AIX systems. If uv_setup_args has not been called on systems that require it, then UV_ENOBUFS is returned. If buffer is NULL or size is zero, UV_EINVAL is returned. If size cannot accommodate the process title and terminating nul character, the function returns UV_ENOBUFS.

  Note

  On BSD systems, uv_setup_args is needed for getting the initial process title. The process title returned will be an empty string until either uv_setup_args or uv_set_process_title is called.

  Changed in version 1.18.1: now thread-safe on all supported platforms.

  Changed in version 1.39.0: now returns an error if uv_setup_args is needed but hasn’t been called.

int uv_set_process_title(const char *title)

  Sets the current process title. You must call uv_setup_args before calling this function on Unix and AIX systems. If uv_setup_args has not been called on systems that require it, then UV_ENOBUFS is returned. On platforms with a fixed size buffer for the process title the contents of title will be copied to the buffer and truncated if larger than the available space. Other platforms will return UV_ENOMEM if they cannot allocate enough space to duplicate the contents of title.

  Changed in version 1.18.1: now thread-safe on all supported platforms.

  Changed in version 1.39.0: now returns an error if uv_setup_args is needed but hasn’t been called.

int uv_resident_set_memory(size_t *rss)

  Gets the resident set size (RSS) for the current process.

int uv_uptime(double *uptime)

  Gets the current system uptime.

int uv_getrusage(uv_rusage_t *rusage)

  Gets the resource usage measures for the current process.

  Note

  On Windows not all fields are set, the unsupported fields are filled with zeroes. See `uv_rusage_t` for more details.

uv_pid_t uv_os_getpid(void)

  Returns the current process ID.

  New in version 1.18.0.

uv_pid_t uv_os_getppid(void)

  Returns the parent process ID.

  New in version 1.16.0.

int uv_cpu_info(uv_cpu_info_t **cpu_infos, int *count)

  Gets information about the CPUs on the system. The cpu_infos array will have count elements and needs to be freed with `uv_free_cpu_info()`.

void uv_free_cpu_info(uv_cpu_info_t *cpu_infos, int count)

  Frees the cpu_infos array previously allocated with `uv_cpu_info()`.

int uv_interface_addresses(uv_interface_address_t **addresses, int *count)

  Gets address information about the network interfaces on the system. An array of count elements is allocated and returned in addresses. It must be freed by the user, calling `uv_free_interface_addresses()`.

void uv_free_interface_addresses(uv_interface_address_t *addresses, int count)

  Free an array of `uv_interface_address_t` which was returned by `uv_interface_addresses()`.

void uv_loadavg(double avg[3])

  Gets the load average. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_(computing)

  Note

  Returns [0,0,0] on Windows (i.e., it’s not implemented).

int uv_ip4_addr(const char *ip, int port, struct sockaddr_in *addr)

  Convert a string containing an IPv4 addresses to a binary structure.

int uv_ip6_addr(const char *ip, int port, struct sockaddr_in6 *addr)

  Convert a string containing an IPv6 addresses to a binary structure.

int uv_ip4_name(const struct sockaddr_in *src, char *dst, size_t size)

  Convert a binary structure containing an IPv4 address to a string.

int uv_ip6_name(const struct sockaddr_in6 *src, char *dst, size_t size)

  Convert a binary structure containing an IPv6 address to a string.

int uv_inet_ntop(int af, const void *src, char *dst, size_t size)

int uv_inet_pton(int af, const char *src, void *dst)

  Cross-platform IPv6-capable implementation of inet_ntop(3) and inet_pton(3). On success they return 0. In case of error the target dst pointer is unmodified.

UV_IF_NAMESIZE

  Maximum IPv6 interface identifier name length. Defined as IFNAMSIZ on Unix and IF_NAMESIZE on Linux and Windows.

  New in version 1.16.0.

int uv_if_indextoname(unsigned int ifindex, char *buffer, size_t *size)

  IPv6-capable implementation of if_indextoname(3). When called, *size indicates the length of the buffer, which is used to store the result. On success, zero is returned, buffer contains the interface name, and *size represents the string length of the buffer, excluding the NUL terminator byte from *size. On error, a negative result is returned. If buffer is not large enough to hold the result, UV_ENOBUFS is returned, and *size represents the necessary size in bytes, including the NUL terminator byte into the *size.

  On Unix, the returned interface name can be used directly as an interface identifier in scoped IPv6 addresses, e.g. fe80::abc:def1:2345%en0.

  On Windows, the returned interface cannot be used as an interface identifier, as Windows uses numerical interface identifiers, e.g. fe80::abc:def1:2345%5.

  To get an interface identifier in a cross-platform compatible way, use uv_if_indextoiid().

  Example:

      char ifname[UV_IF_NAMESIZE];
      size_t size = sizeof(ifname);
      uv_if_indextoname(sin6->sin6_scope_id, ifname, &size);

  New in version 1.16.0.

int uv_if_indextoiid(unsigned int ifindex, char *buffer, size_t *size)

  Retrieves a network interface identifier suitable for use in an IPv6 scoped address. On Windows, returns the numeric ifindex as a string. On all other platforms, uv_if_indextoname() is called. The result is written to buffer, with *size indicating the length of buffer. If buffer is not large enough to hold the result, then UV_ENOBUFS is returned, and *size represents the size, including the NUL byte, required to hold the result.

  See uv_if_indextoname for further details.

  New in version 1.16.0.

int uv_exepath(char *buffer, size_t *size)

  Gets the executable path. You must call uv_setup_args before calling this function.

int uv_cwd(char *buffer, size_t *size)

  Gets the current working directory, and stores it in buffer. If the current working directory is too large to fit in buffer, this function returns UV_ENOBUFS, and sets size to the required length, including the null terminator.

  Changed in version 1.1.0: On Unix the path no longer ends in a slash.

  Changed in version 1.9.0: the returned length includes the terminating null byte on UV_ENOBUFS, and the buffer is null terminated on success.

int uv_chdir(const char *dir)

  Changes the current working directory.

int uv_os_homedir(char *buffer, size_t *size)

  Gets the current user’s home directory. On Windows, uv_os_homedir() first checks the USERPROFILE environment variable using GetEnvironmentVariableW(). If USERPROFILE is not set, GetUserProfileDirectoryW() is called. On all other operating systems, uv_os_homedir() first checks the HOME environment variable using getenv(3). If HOME is not set, getpwuid_r(3) is called. The user’s home directory is stored in buffer. When uv_os_homedir() is called, size indicates the maximum size of buffer. On success size is set to the string length of buffer. On UV_ENOBUFS failure size is set to the required length for buffer, including the null byte.

  Warning

  uv_os_homedir() is not thread safe.

  New in version 1.6.0.

int uv_os_tmpdir(char *buffer, size_t *size)

  Gets the temp directory. On Windows, uv_os_tmpdir() uses GetTempPathW(). On all other operating systems, uv_os_tmpdir() uses the first environment variable found in the ordered list TMPDIR, TMP, TEMP, and TEMPDIR. If none of these are found, the path “/tmp” is used, or, on Android, “/data/local/tmp” is used. The temp directory is stored in buffer. When uv_os_tmpdir() is called, size indicates the maximum size of buffer. On success size is set to the string length of buffer (which does not include the terminating null). On UV_ENOBUFS failure size is set to the required length for buffer, including the null byte.

  Warning

  uv_os_tmpdir() is not thread safe.

  New in version 1.9.0.

int uv_os_get_passwd(uv_passwd_t *pwd)

  Gets a subset of the password file entry for the current effective uid (not the real uid). The populated data includes the username, euid, gid, shell, and home directory. On non-Windows systems, all data comes from getpwuid_r(3). On Windows, uid and gid are set to -1 and have no meaning, and shell is NULL. After successfully calling this function, the memory allocated to pwd needs to be freed with `uv_os_free_passwd()`.

  New in version 1.9.0.

void uv_os_free_passwd(uv_passwd_t *pwd)

  Frees the pwd memory previously allocated with `uv_os_get_passwd()`.

  New in version 1.9.0.

uint64_t uv_get_free_memory(void)

  Gets the amount of free memory available in the system, as reported by the kernel (in bytes).

uint64_t uv_get_total_memory(void)

  Gets the total amount of physical memory in the system (in bytes).

uint64_t uv_get_constrained_memory(void)

  Gets the amount of memory available to the process (in bytes) based on limits imposed by the OS. If there is no such constraint, or the constraint is unknown, 0 is returned. Note that it is not unusual for this value to be less than or greater than `uv_get_total_memory()`.

  Note

  This function currently only returns a non-zero value on Linux, based on cgroups if it is present.

  New in version 1.29.0.

uint64_t uv_hrtime(void)

  Returns the current high-resolution real time. This is expressed in nanoseconds. It is relative to an arbitrary time in the past. It is not related to the time of day and therefore not subject to clock drift. The primary use is for measuring performance between intervals.

  Note

  Not every platform can support nanosecond resolution; however, this value will always be in nanoseconds.

void uv_print_all_handles(uv_loop_t *loop, FILE *stream)

  Prints all handles associated with the given loop to the given stream.

  Example:

      uv_print_all_handles(uv_default_loop(), stderr);
      /*
      [--I] signal   0x1a25ea8
      [-AI] async    0x1a25cf0
      [R--] idle     0x1a7a8c8
      */

  The format is [flags] handle-type handle-address. For flags:

  - R is printed for a handle that is referenced

  - A is printed for a handle that is active

  - I is printed for a handle that is internal

  Warning

  This function is meant for ad hoc debugging, there is no API/ABI stability guarantees.

  New in version 1.8.0.

void uv_print_active_handles(uv_loop_t *loop, FILE *stream)

  This is the same as `uv_print_all_handles()` except only active handles are printed.

  Warning

  This function is meant for ad hoc debugging, there is no API/ABI stability guarantees.

  New in version 1.8.0.

int uv_os_environ(uv_env_item_t **envitems, int *count)

  Retrieves all environment variables. This function will allocate memory which must be freed by calling `uv_os_free_environ()`.

  Warning

  This function is not thread safe.

  New in version 1.31.0.

void uv_os_free_environ(uv_env_item_t *envitems, int count);

  Frees the memory allocated for the environment variables by `uv_os_environ()`.

  New in version 1.31.0.

int uv_os_getenv(const char *name, char *buffer, size_t *size)

  Retrieves the environment variable specified by name, copies its value into buffer, and sets size to the string length of the value. When calling this function, size must be set to the amount of storage available in buffer, including the null terminator. If the environment variable exceeds the storage available in buffer, UV_ENOBUFS is returned, and size is set to the amount of storage required to hold the value. If no matching environment variable exists, UV_ENOENT is returned.

  Warning

  This function is not thread safe.

  New in version 1.12.0.

int uv_os_setenv(const char *name, const char *value)

  Creates or updates the environment variable specified by name with value.

  Warning

  This function is not thread safe.

  New in version 1.12.0.

int uv_os_unsetenv(const char *name)

  Deletes the environment variable specified by name. If no such environment variable exists, this function returns successfully.

  Warning

  This function is not thread safe.

  New in version 1.12.0.

int uv_os_gethostname(char *buffer, size_t *size)

  Returns the hostname as a null-terminated string in buffer, and sets size to the string length of the hostname. When calling this function, size must be set to the amount of storage available in buffer, including the null terminator. If the hostname exceeds the storage available in buffer, UV_ENOBUFS is returned, and size is set to the amount of storage required to hold the value.

  New in version 1.12.0.

  Changed in version 1.26.0: UV_MAXHOSTNAMESIZE is available and represents the maximum buffer size required to store a hostname and terminating nul character.

int uv_os_getpriority(uv_pid_t pid, int *priority)

  Retrieves the scheduling priority of the process specified by pid. The returned value of priority is between -20 (high priority) and 19 (low priority).

  Note

  On Windows, the returned priority will equal one of the UV_PRIORITY constants.

  New in version 1.23.0.

int uv_os_setpriority(uv_pid_t pid, int priority)

  Sets the scheduling priority of the process specified by pid. The priority value range is between -20 (high priority) and 19 (low priority). The constants UV_PRIORITY_LOW, UV_PRIORITY_BELOW_NORMAL, UV_PRIORITY_NORMAL, UV_PRIORITY_ABOVE_NORMAL, UV_PRIORITY_HIGH, and UV_PRIORITY_HIGHEST are also provided for convenience.

  Note

  On Windows, this function utilizes SetPriorityClass(). The priority argument is mapped to a Windows priority class. When retrieving the process priority, the result will equal one of the UV_PRIORITY constants, and not necessarily the exact value of priority.

  Note

  On Windows, setting PRIORITY_HIGHEST will only work for elevated user, for others it will be silently reduced to PRIORITY_HIGH.

  Note

  On IBM i PASE, the highest process priority is -10. The constant UV_PRIORITY_HIGHEST is -10, UV_PRIORITY_HIGH is -7, UV_PRIORITY_ABOVE_NORMAL is -4, UV_PRIORITY_NORMAL is 0, UV_PRIORITY_BELOW_NORMAL is 15 and UV_PRIORITY_LOW is 39.

  Note

  On IBM i PASE, you are not allowed to change your priority unless you have the *JOBCTL special authority (even to lower it).

  New in version 1.23.0.

int uv_os_uname(uv_utsname_t *buffer)

  Retrieves system information in buffer. The populated data includes the operating system name, release, version, and machine. On non-Windows systems, uv_os_uname() is a thin wrapper around uname(2). Returns zero on success, and a non-zero error value otherwise.

  New in version 1.25.0.

int uv_gettimeofday(uv_timeval64_t *tv)

  Cross-platform implementation of gettimeofday(2). The timezone argument to gettimeofday() is not supported, as it is considered obsolete.

  New in version 1.28.0.

int uv_random(uv_loop_t *loop, uv_random_t *req, void *buf, size_t buflen, unsigned int flags, uv_random_cb cb)

  Fill buf with exactly buflen cryptographically strong random bytes acquired from the system CSPRNG. flags is reserved for future extension and must currently be 0.

  Short reads are not possible. When less than buflen random bytes are available, a non-zero error value is returned or passed to the callback.

  The synchronous version may block indefinitely when not enough entropy is available. The asynchronous version may not ever finish when the system is low on entropy.

  Sources of entropy:

  - Windows: RtlGenRandom <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/api/ntsecapi/nf-ntsecapi-rtlgenrandom>_.

  - Linux, Android: getrandom(2) if available, or urandom(4) after reading from /dev/random once, or the KERN_RANDOM sysctl(2).

  - FreeBSD: getrandom(2) <https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=getrandom&sektion=2>_, or /dev/urandom after reading from /dev/random once.

  - NetBSD: KERN_ARND sysctl(3) <https://netbsd.gw.com/cgi-bin/man-cgi?sysctl+3+NetBSD-current>_

  - macOS, OpenBSD: getentropy(2) <https://man.openbsd.org/getentropy.2>_ if available, or /dev/urandom after reading from /dev/random once.

  - AIX: /dev/random.

  - IBM i: /dev/urandom.

  - Other UNIX: /dev/urandom after reading from /dev/random once.

  Returns

    0 on success, or an error code < 0 on failure. The contents of buf is undefined after an error.

  Note

  When using the synchronous version, both loop and req parameters are not used and can be set to NULL.

  New in version 1.33.0.

void uv_sleep(unsigned int msec)

  Causes the calling thread to sleep for msec milliseconds.

  New in version 1.34.0.