### 31.9 Using `pathconf`

When your machine allows different files to have different values for a file system parameter, you can use the functions in this section to find out the value that applies to any particular file.

These functions and the associated constants for the parameter argument are declared in the header file `unistd.h`.

— Function: long int pathconf (const char *filename, int parameter)

> This function is used to inquire about the limits that apply to the file named filename.

> The parameter argument should be one of the ‘`_PC_`’ constants listed below.

> The normal return value from `pathconf` is the value you requested. A value of `-1` is returned both if the implementation does not impose a limit, and in case of an error. In the former case, `errno` is not set, while in the latter case, `errno` is set to indicate the cause of the problem. So the only way to use this function robustly is to store `0` into `errno` just before calling it.

> Besides the usual file name errors (see File Name Errors), the following error condition is defined for this function:

> `EINVAL`
>   The value of parameter is invalid, or the implementation doesn't support the parameter for the specific file.

— Function: long int fpathconf (int filedes, int parameter)

> This is just like `pathconf` except that an open file descriptor is used to specify the file for which information is requested, instead of a file name.

> The following `errno` error conditions are defined for this function:

> `EBADF`
>   The filedes argument is not a valid file descriptor.
> `EINVAL`
>   The value of parameter is invalid, or the implementation doesn't support the parameter for the specific file.

Here are the symbolic constants that you can use as the parameter argument to `pathconf` and `fpathconf`. The values are all integer constants.

`_PC_LINK_MAX`
  Inquire about the value of `LINK_MAX`.
`_PC_MAX_CANON`
  Inquire about the value of `MAX_CANON`.
`_PC_MAX_INPUT`
  Inquire about the value of `MAX_INPUT`.
`_PC_NAME_MAX`
  Inquire about the value of `NAME_MAX`.
`_PC_PATH_MAX`
  Inquire about the value of `PATH_MAX`.
`_PC_PIPE_BUF`
  Inquire about the value of `PIPE_BUF`.
`_PC_CHOWN_RESTRICTED`
  Inquire about the value of `_POSIX_CHOWN_RESTRICTED`.
`_PC_NO_TRUNC`
  Inquire about the value of `_POSIX_NO_TRUNC`.
`_PC_VDISABLE`
  Inquire about the value of `_POSIX_VDISABLE`.
`_PC_SYNC_IO`
  Inquire about the value of `_POSIX_SYNC_IO`.
`_PC_ASYNC_IO`
  Inquire about the value of `_POSIX_ASYNC_IO`.
`_PC_PRIO_IO`
  Inquire about the value of `_POSIX_PRIO_IO`.
`_PC_FILESIZEBITS`
  Inquire about the availability of large files on the filesystem.
`_PC_REC_INCR_XFER_SIZE`
  Inquire about the value of `POSIX_REC_INCR_XFER_SIZE`.
`_PC_REC_MAX_XFER_SIZE`
  Inquire about the value of `POSIX_REC_MAX_XFER_SIZE`.
`_PC_REC_MIN_XFER_SIZE`
  Inquire about the value of `POSIX_REC_MIN_XFER_SIZE`.
`_PC_REC_XFER_ALIGN`
  Inquire about the value of `POSIX_REC_XFER_ALIGN`.