.\" $OpenBSD: pread.3,v 1.7 1999/07/09 13:35:25 aaron Exp $ .\" David Leonard , 1998. Public domain. .Dd September 7, 1998 .Dt PREAD 3 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm pread .Nd atomic seek and read .Sh SYNOPSIS .Fd #include .Ft ssize_t .Fn pread "int filedes" "void *buf" "size_t nbytes" "off_t offset" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn pread function reads .Fa nbyte bytes from offset .Fa offset in the file opened on file descriptor .Fa filedes. .Pp This function is provided for use in a threaded, parallel I/O environment, where race conditions may exist between two threads non-atomically seeking and reading from the same file descriptor. .Sh RETURN VALUES The .Fn pread function returns values identical to .Xr read 2 . .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr read 2 , .Xr pthreads 3 , .Xr pwrite 3 .Sh STANDARDS .Fn pread conforms to .St -susv2 .