dlclose(3X)      MISCELLANEOUS LIBRARY FUNCTIONS      dlclose(3X)



NAME
     dlclose - close a shared object

SYNOPSIS
     cc [flag ...] file ...  -ldl [library ...]

     #include <dlfcn.h>

     int dlclose(void *handle);

DESCRIPTION
     dlclose disassociates a shared object previously  opened  by
     dlopen  from  the  current process.  Once an object has been
     closed using dlclose, its symbols are no longer available to
     dlsym.   All  objects  loaded  automatically  as a result of
     invoking dlopen on the referenced  object  [see  dlopen(3X)]
     are also closed.  handle is the value returned by a previous
     invocation of dlopen.

SEE ALSO
     dlerror(3X), dlopen(3X), dlsym(3X).

DIAGNOSTICS
     If the referenced object was  successfully  closed,  dlclose
     returns  0.  If the object could not be closed, or if handle
     does not refer to an open object, dlclose  returns  a  non-0
     value.   More detailed diagnostic information will be avail-
     able through dlerror.

NOTES
     A successful invocation of dlclose does not  guarantee  that
     the  objects associated with handle will actually be removed
     from the address space of the process.   Objects  loaded  by
     one invocation of dlopen may also be loaded by another invo-
     cation of dlopen.  The same object may also be opened multi-
     ple  times.   An object will not be removed from the address
     space until all references to that object through an  expli-
     cit dlopen invocation have been closed and all other objects
     implicitly referencing that object have also been closed.

     Once an object has been closed by dlclose, referencing  sym-
     bols contained in that object can cause undefined behavior.













          Last change: C Programming Language Utilities         1