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Run-Time Library
 _lseek, _lseeki64
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Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/.NET Framework 2.0

Other versions are also available for the following:
Run-Time Library Reference 
_lseek, _lseeki64 

Moves a file pointer to the specified location.

long _lseek(
   int fd,
   long offset,
   int origin 
);
__int64 _lseeki64(
   int fd,
   __int64 offset,
   int origin 
);

Parameters

fd

File descriptor referring to an open file.

offset

Number of bytes from origin.

origin

Initial position.

_lseek returns the offset, in bytes, of the new position from the beginning of the file. _lseeki64 returns the offset in a 64-bit integer. The function returns –1L to indicate an error. If passed an invalid parameter, such as a bad file descriptor, or the value for origin is invalid or the position specified by offset is before the beginning of the file, the invalid parameter handler is invoked, as described in Parameter Validation. If execution is allowed to continue, these functions set errno to EBADF and return -1L. On devices incapable of seeking (such as terminals and printers), the return value is undefined.

For more information about these and other error codes, see _doserrno, errno, _sys_errlist, and _sys_nerr.

The _lseek function moves the file pointer associated with fd to a new location that is offset bytes from origin. The next operation on the file occurs at the new location. The origin argument must be one of the following constants, which are defined in Stdio.h.

SEEK_SET

Beginning of the file.

SEEK_CUR

Current position of the file pointer.

SEEK_END

End of file.

You can use _lseek to reposition the pointer anywhere in a file or beyond the end of the file.

Routine Required header Compatibility

_lseek

<io.h>

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003

_lseeki64

<io.h>

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.

Libraries

All versions of the C run-time libraries.

// crt_lseek.c
/* This program first opens a file named lseek.txt.
 * It then uses _lseek to find the beginning of the file,
 * to find the current position in the file, and to find
 * the end of the file.
 */

#include <io.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <share.h>

int main( void )
{
   int fh;
   long pos;               /* Position of file pointer */
   char buffer[10];

   _sopen_s( &fh, "crt_lseek.c_input", _O_RDONLY, _SH_DENYNO, 0 );

   /* Seek the beginning of the file: */
   pos = _lseek( fh, 0L, SEEK_SET );
   if( pos == -1L )
      perror( "_lseek to beginning failed" );
   else
      printf( "Position for beginning of file seek = %ld\n", pos );

   /* Move file pointer a little */
    _read( fh, buffer, 10 );

   /* Find current position: */
   pos = _lseek( fh, 0L, SEEK_CUR );
   if( pos == -1L )
      perror( "_lseek to current position failed" );
   else
      printf( "Position for current position seek = %ld\n", pos );

   /* Set the end of the file: */
   pos = _lseek( fh, 0L, SEEK_END );
   if( pos == -1L )
      perror( "_lseek to end failed" );
   else
      printf( "Position for end of file seek = %ld\n", pos );

   _close( fh );
}
Line one.
Line two.
Line three.
Line four.
Line five.
Position for beginning of file seek = 0
Position for current position seek = 10
Position for end of file seek = 57
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