CINXE.COM
close - Perldoc Browser
<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <title>close - Perldoc Browser</title> <link rel="search" href="/opensearch.xml" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Perldoc Browser"> <link rel="canonical" href="https://perldoc.perl.org/functions/close"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.2/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-JcKb8q3iqJ61gNV9KGb8thSsNjpSL0n8PARn9HuZOnIxN0hoP+VmmDGMN5t9UJ0Z" crossorigin="anonymous"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/highlight.js/10.5.0/styles/stackoverflow-light.min.css" integrity="sha512-cG1IdFxqipi3gqLmksLtuk13C+hBa57a6zpWxMeoY3Q9O6ooFxq50DayCdm0QrDgZjMUn23z/0PMZlgft7Yp5Q==" crossorigin="anonymous" /> <style> body { background: #f4f4f5; color: #020202; } .navbar-dark { background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #005f85 0, #002e49 100%); background-image: -o-linear-gradient(top, #005f85 0, #002e49 100%); background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #005f85 0, #002e49 100%); filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient(startColorstr='#ff005f85', endColorstr='#ff002e49', GradientType=0); background-repeat: repeat-x; } .navbar-dark .navbar-nav .nav-link, .navbar-dark .navbar-nav .nav-link:focus { color: #fff } .navbar-dark .navbar-nav .nav-link:hover { color: #ffef68 } #wrapperlicious { margin: 0 auto; font: 0.9em 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0; padding: 0; } #wrapperlicious h1 { font-size: 1.5em } #wrapperlicious h2 { font-size: 1.3em } #wrapperlicious h3 { font-size: 1.1em } #wrapperlicious h4 { font-size: 0.9em } #wrapperlicious h1, #wrapperlicious h2, #wrapperlicious h3, #wrapperlicious h4, #wrapperlicious dt { color: #020202; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; position: relative; font-weight: bold; } #wrapperlicious a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline } #wrapperlicious #toc { text-decoration: none } #wrapperlicious a:hover { color: #2a2a2a } #wrapperlicious a img { border: 0 } #wrapperlicious :not(pre) > code { color: inherit; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.04); border-radius: 3px; font: 0.9em Consolas, Menlo, Monaco, monospace; padding: 0.3em; } #wrapperlicious dd { margin: 0; margin-left: 2em; } #wrapperlicious dt { color: #2a2a2a; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 0.9em; } #wrapperlicious p { margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; } #wrapperlicious li > p { margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; } #wrapperlicious pre { border: 1px solid #c1c1c1; border-radius: 3px; font: 100% Consolas, Menlo, Monaco, monospace; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; } #wrapperlicious pre > code { display: block; background-color: #f6f6f6; font: 0.9em Consolas, Menlo, Monaco, monospace; line-height: 1.5em; text-align: left; white-space: pre; padding: 1em; } #wrapperlicious dl, #wrapperlicious ol, #wrapperlicious ul { margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; } #wrapperlicious ul { list-style-type: square; } #wrapperlicious ul ul { margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; } #footer { font-size: 0.8em; padding-top: 0.5em; text-align: center; } #more { display: inline; font-size: 0.8em; } #perldocdiv { background-color: #fff; border: 1px solid #c1c1c1; border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 3em; padding-top: 1em; max-width: 960px; } #moduleversion { float: right } #wrapperlicious .leading-notice { font-style: italic; padding-left: 1em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; } #wrapperlicious .permalink { display: none; left: -0.75em; position: absolute; padding-right: 0.25em; text-decoration: none; } #wrapperlicious h1:hover .permalink, #wrapperlicious h2:hover .permalink, #wrapperlicious h3:hover .permalink, #wrapperlicious h4:hover .permalink, #wrapperlicious dt:hover .permalink { display: block; } </style> <!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics --> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-KVNWBNT5FB"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-KVNWBNT5FB'); gtag('config', 'UA-50555-3'); </script> </head> <body> <nav class="navbar navbar-expand-md navbar-dark bg-dark justify-content-between"> <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#navbarNav" aria-controls="navbarNav" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation"> <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span> </button> <a class="navbar-brand" href="/"><img src="/images/perl_camel_30.png" width="30" height="30" class="d-inline-block align-top" alt="Perl Camel Logo"> Perldoc Browser</a> <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarNav"> <ul class="navbar-nav mr-auto"> <li class="nav-item dropdown text-nowrap"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdownlink-stable" role="button" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">5.18.2</a> <div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdownlink-stable"> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/functions/close">Latest</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.40.1/functions/close">5.40.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.40.0/functions/close">5.40.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.38.3/functions/close">5.38.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.38.2/functions/close">5.38.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.38.1/functions/close">5.38.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.38.0/functions/close">5.38.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.36.3/functions/close">5.36.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.36.2/functions/close">5.36.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.36.1/functions/close">5.36.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.36.0/functions/close">5.36.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.34.3/functions/close">5.34.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.34.2/functions/close">5.34.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.34.1/functions/close">5.34.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.34.0/functions/close">5.34.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.32.1/functions/close">5.32.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.32.0/functions/close">5.32.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.30.3/functions/close">5.30.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.30.2/functions/close">5.30.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.30.1/functions/close">5.30.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.30.0/functions/close">5.30.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.28.3/functions/close">5.28.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.28.2/functions/close">5.28.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.28.1/functions/close">5.28.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.28.0/functions/close">5.28.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.26.3/functions/close">5.26.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.26.2/functions/close">5.26.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.26.1/functions/close">5.26.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.26.0/functions/close">5.26.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.24.4/functions/close">5.24.4</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.24.3/functions/close">5.24.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.24.2/functions/close">5.24.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.24.1/functions/close">5.24.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.24.0/functions/close">5.24.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.22.4/functions/close">5.22.4</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.22.3/functions/close">5.22.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.22.2/functions/close">5.22.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.22.1/functions/close">5.22.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.22.0/functions/close">5.22.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.20.3/functions/close">5.20.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.20.2/functions/close">5.20.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.20.1/functions/close">5.20.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.20.0/functions/close">5.20.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.4/functions/close">5.18.4</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.3/functions/close">5.18.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item active" href="/5.18.2/functions/close">5.18.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.1/functions/close">5.18.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.0/functions/close">5.18.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.16.3/functions/close">5.16.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.16.2/functions/close">5.16.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.16.1/functions/close">5.16.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.16.0/functions/close">5.16.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.14.4/functions/close">5.14.4</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.14.3/functions/close">5.14.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.14.2/functions/close">5.14.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.14.1/functions/close">5.14.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.14.0/functions/close">5.14.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.12.5/functions/close">5.12.5</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.12.4/functions/close">5.12.4</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.12.3/functions/close">5.12.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.12.2/functions/close">5.12.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.12.1/functions/close">5.12.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.12.0/functions/close">5.12.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.10.1/functions/close">5.10.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.10.0/functions/close">5.10.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.9/functions/close">5.8.9</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.8/functions/close">5.8.8</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.7/functions/close">5.8.7</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.6/functions/close">5.8.6</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.5/functions/close">5.8.5</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.4/functions/close">5.8.4</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.3/functions/close">5.8.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.2/functions/close">5.8.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.1/functions/close">5.8.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.8.0/functions/close">5.8.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.6.2/functions/close">5.6.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.6.1/functions/close">5.6.1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.6.0/functions/close">5.6.0</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.005_04/functions/close">5.005_04</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.005_03/functions/close">5.005_03</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.005_02/functions/close">5.005_02</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.005_01/functions/close">5.005_01</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.005/functions/close">5.005</a> </div> </li> <li class="nav-item dropdown text-nowrap"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdownlink-dev" role="button" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">Dev</a> <div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdownlink-dev"> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/blead/functions/close">blead</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.10/functions/close">5.41.10</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.9/functions/close">5.41.9</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.8/functions/close">5.41.8</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.7/functions/close">5.41.7</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.6/functions/close">5.41.6</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.5/functions/close">5.41.5</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.4/functions/close">5.41.4</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.3/functions/close">5.41.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.2/functions/close">5.41.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.41.1/functions/close">5.41.1</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.40.1-RC1/functions/close">5.40.1-RC1</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.40.0-RC2/functions/close">5.40.0-RC2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.40.0-RC1/functions/close">5.40.0-RC1</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.10/functions/close">5.39.10</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.9/functions/close">5.39.9</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.8/functions/close">5.39.8</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.7/functions/close">5.39.7</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.6/functions/close">5.39.6</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.5/functions/close">5.39.5</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.4/functions/close">5.39.4</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.3/functions/close">5.39.3</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.2/functions/close">5.39.2</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.39.1/functions/close">5.39.1</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.38.3-RC1/functions/close">5.38.3-RC1</a> </div> </li> <li class="nav-item dropdown text-nowrap"> <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="dropdownlink-nav" role="button" data-toggle="dropdown" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false">Documentation</a> <div class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="dropdownlink-nav"> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perl">Perl</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perlintro">Intro</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perl#Tutorials">Tutorials</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perlfaq">FAQs</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perl#Reference-Manual">Reference</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perlop">Operators</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/functions">Functions</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/variables">Variables</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/modules">Modules</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perlutil">Utilities</a> <div class="dropdown-divider"></div> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perldelta">Release Notes</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perlcommunity">Community</a> <a class="dropdown-item" href="/5.18.2/perlhist">History</a> </div> </li> </ul> <ul class="navbar-nav"> <script> function set_expand (expand) { var perldocdiv = document.getElementById('perldocdiv'); var width = window.getComputedStyle(perldocdiv).getPropertyValue('max-width'); var expanded = (width == '' || width == 'none') ? true : false; if (expand === null) { expand = !expanded; } if ((expand && !expanded) || (!expand && expanded)) { perldocdiv.style.setProperty('max-width', expand ? 'none' : '960px'); var button_classlist = document.getElementById('content-expand-button').classList; if (expand) { button_classlist.add('btn-light'); button_classlist.remove('btn-outline-light'); } else { button_classlist.add('btn-outline-light'); button_classlist.remove('btn-light'); } } return expand; } function toggle_expand () { var expand = set_expand(null); document.cookie = 'perldoc_expand=' + (expand ? 1 : 0) + '; path=/; expires=Tue, 19 Jan 2038 03:14:07 UTC'; } function read_expand () { return document.cookie.split(';').some(function (item) { return item.indexOf('perldoc_expand=1') >= 0 }); } if (document.readyState === 'loading') { document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () { if (read_expand()) { set_expand(true); } }); } else if (read_expand()) { set_expand(true); } </script> <button id="content-expand-button" type="button" class="btn btn-outline-light d-none d-lg-inline-block mr-4" onclick="toggle_expand()">Expand</button> </ul> <form class="form-inline" method="get" action="/5.18.2/search"> <input class="form-control mr-3" type="search" name="q" placeholder="Search" aria-label="Search" value=""> </form> </div> </nav> <div id="wrapperlicious" class="container-fluid"> <div id="perldocdiv"> <div id="links"> <a href="/5.18.2/functions">functions</a> / <a href="/5.18.2/functions/close">close</a> <div id="more"> (<a href="/5.18.2/functions/close.txt">source</a>, <a href="https://metacpan.org/pod/perlfunc#close-FILEHANDLE">CPAN</a>) </div> </div> <div class="leading-notice"> You are viewing the version of this documentation from Perl 5.18.2. <a href="/functions/close">View the latest version</a> </div> <dl> <dt id="close-FILEHANDLE"><a class="permalink" href="#close-FILEHANDLE">#</a><a id="close1"></a>close FILEHANDLE </dt> <dd> </dd> <dt id="close"><a class="permalink" href="#close">#</a>close</dt> <dd> <p>Closes the file or pipe associated with the filehandle, flushes the IO buffers, and closes the system file descriptor. Returns true if those operations succeed and if no error was reported by any PerlIO layer. Closes the currently selected filehandle if the argument is omitted.</p> <p>You don't have to close FILEHANDLE if you are immediately going to do another <code>open</code> on it, because <code>open</code> closes it for you. (See <a href="/5.18.2/functions/open">open</a>.) However, an explicit <code>close</code> on an input file resets the line counter (<code>$.</code>), while the implicit close done by <code>open</code> does not.</p> <p>If the filehandle came from a piped open, <code>close</code> returns false if one of the other syscalls involved fails or if its program exits with non-zero status. If the only problem was that the program exited non-zero, <code>$!</code> will be set to <code>0</code>. Closing a pipe also waits for the process executing on the pipe to exit--in case you wish to look at the output of the pipe afterwards--and implicitly puts the exit status value of that command into <code>$?</code> and <code>${^CHILD_ERROR_NATIVE}</code>.</p> <p>If there are multiple threads running, <code>close</code> on a filehandle from a piped open returns true without waiting for the child process to terminate, if the filehandle is still open in another thread.</p> <p>Closing the read end of a pipe before the process writing to it at the other end is done writing results in the writer receiving a SIGPIPE. If the other end can't handle that, be sure to read all the data before closing the pipe.</p> <p>Example:</p> <pre><code>open(OUTPUT, '|sort >foo') # pipe to sort or die "Can't start sort: $!"; #... # print stuff to output close OUTPUT # wait for sort to finish or warn $! ? "Error closing sort pipe: $!" : "Exit status $? from sort"; open(INPUT, 'foo') # get sort's results or die "Can't open 'foo' for input: $!";</code></pre> <p>FILEHANDLE may be an expression whose value can be used as an indirect filehandle, usually the real filehandle name or an autovivified handle.</p> </dd> </dl> </div> <div id="footer"> <p>Perldoc Browser is maintained by Dan Book (<a href="https://metacpan.org/author/DBOOK">DBOOK</a>). Please contact him via the <a href="https://github.com/Grinnz/perldoc-browser/issues">GitHub issue tracker</a> or <a href="mailto:dbook@cpan.org">email</a> regarding any issues with the site itself, search, or rendering of documentation.</p> <p>The Perl documentation is maintained by the Perl 5 Porters in the development of Perl. Please contact them via the <a href="https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues">Perl issue tracker</a>, the <a href="https://lists.perl.org/list/perl5-porters.html">mailing list</a>, or <a href="https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.perl.org/p5p">IRC</a> to report any issues with the contents or format of the documentation.</p> </div> </div> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.5.1/jquery.slim.min.js" integrity="sha512-/DXTXr6nQodMUiq+IUJYCt2PPOUjrHJ9wFrqpJ3XkgPNOZVfMok7cRw6CSxyCQxXn6ozlESsSh1/sMCTF1rL/g==" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/popper.js/1.16.1/umd/popper.min.js" integrity="sha512-ubuT8Z88WxezgSqf3RLuNi5lmjstiJcyezx34yIU2gAHonIi27Na7atqzUZCOoY4CExaoFumzOsFQ2Ch+I/HCw==" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <script src="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.5.2/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-B4gt1jrGC7Jh4AgTPSdUtOBvfO8shuf57BaghqFfPlYxofvL8/KUEfYiJOMMV+rV" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> <script src="/js/highlight.pack.js"></script> <script>hljs.highlightAll();</script> </body> </html>