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ULIMIT(1P)                 POSIX Programmer's Manual                ULIMIT(1P)

PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the  corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
       ulimit - set or report file size limit
SYNOPSIS
       ulimit [-f][blocks]
DESCRIPTION
       The ulimit utility shall set or  report  the  file-size  writing  limit
       imposed on files written by the shell and its child processes (files of
       any size may be read). Only a process with appropriate  privileges  can
       increase the limit.
OPTIONS
       The  ulimit  utility  shall  conform  to the Base Definitions volume of
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.
       The following option shall be supported:
       -f     Set (or report, if no blocks operand is present), the file  size
              limit in blocks. The -f option shall also be the default case.

OPERANDS
       The following operand shall be supported:
       blocks The number of 512-byte blocks to use as the new file size limit.

STDIN
       Not used.
INPUT FILES
       None.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The  following  environment  variables  shall  affect  the execution of
       ulimit:
       LANG   Provide a default value for the  internationalization  variables
              that  are  unset  or  null.  (See the Base Definitions volume of
              IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section  8.2,  Internationalization  Vari-
              ables  for the precedence of internationalization variables used
              to determine the values of locale categories.)
       LC_ALL If set to a non-empty string value, override the values  of  all
              the other internationalization variables.
       LC_CTYPE
              Determine  the  locale  for  the  interpretation of sequences of
              bytes of text data as characters (for  example,  single-byte  as
              opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments).
       LC_MESSAGES
              Determine  the  locale  that should be used to affect the format
              and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.
       NLSPATH
              Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing of
              LC_MESSAGES .

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.
STDOUT
       The standard output shall be used when no blocks operand is present. If
       the current number of blocks is limited, the number of  blocks  in  the
       current limit shall be written in the following format:

              "%d\n", <number of 512-byte blocks>
       If  there  is  no  current  limit on the number of blocks, in the POSIX
       locale the following format shall be used:

              "unlimited\n"
STDERR
       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.
OUTPUT FILES
       None.
EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       None.
EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:
        0     Successful completion.
       >0     A request for a higher limit was rejected or an error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       Default.
       The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
       Since ulimit affects the current shell  execution  environment,  it  is
       always provided as a shell regular built-in. If it is called in a sepa-
       rate utility execution environment, such as one of the following:

              nohup ulimit -f 10000
              env ulimit 10000
       it does not affect the file size limit of the caller's environment.
       Once a limit has been decreased by a process, it  cannot  be  increased
       (unless appropriate privileges are involved), even back to the original
       system limit.
EXAMPLES
       Set the file size limit to 51200 bytes:

              ulimit -f 100
RATIONALE
       None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.
SEE ALSO
       The System Interfaces volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, ulimit()
COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in  electronic  form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX),  The  Open  Group  Base
       Specifications  Issue  6,  Copyright  (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
       Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open  Group.  In  the
       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
       The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard
       is  the  referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online
       at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .

IEEE/The Open Group                  2003                           ULIMIT(1P)