---
name: "IO::Seekable"
section: "3p"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/IO::Seekable"
---

# IO::Seekable(3p)

supply seek based methods for I/O objects

## NAME

IO::Seekable - supply seek based methods for I/O objects

## SYNOPSIS

```
    use IO::Seekable;
    package IO::Something;
    @ISA = qw(IO::Seekable);
```

## DESCRIPTION

`"IO::Seekable"` does not have a constructor of its own as it is intended to be inherited by other `"IO::Handle"` based objects. It provides methods which allow seeking of the file descriptors.

- $io-\>getpos

  Returns an opaque value that represents the current position of the IO::File, or `"undef"` if this is not possible (eg an unseekable stream such as a terminal, pipe or socket). If the **fgetpos()** function is available in your C library it is used to implements getpos, else perl emulates getpos using C's **ftell()** function.

- $io-\>setpos

  Uses the value of a previous getpos call to return to a previously visited position. Returns "0 but true" on success, `"undef"` on failure.

See perlfunc for complete descriptions of each of the following supported `"IO::Seekable"` methods, which are just front ends for the corresponding built-in functions:

- $io-\>seek ( POS, WHENCE )

  Seek the IO::File to position POS, relative to WHENCE:

  - WHENCE=0 (SEEK\_SET)

    POS is absolute position. (Seek relative to the start of the file)

  - WHENCE=1 (SEEK\_CUR)

    POS is an offset from the current position. (Seek relative to current)

  - WHENCE=2 (SEEK\_END)

    POS is an offset from the end of the file. (Seek relative to end)

  The SEEK\_\* constants can be imported from the `"Fcntl"` module if you don't wish to use the numbers `0` `1` or `2` in your code.

  Returns `1` upon success, `0` otherwise.

- $io-\>sysseek( POS, WHENCE )

  Similar to `$io`-\>seek, but sets the IO::File's position using the system call [**lseek**(2)](/lseek/2.md) directly, so will confuse most perl IO operators except sysread and syswrite (see perlfunc for full details)

  Returns the new position, or `"undef"` on failure.  A position of zero is returned as the string `"0 but true"`

- $io-\>tell

  Returns the IO::File's current position, or -1 on error.

## SEE ALSO

perlfunc,  "I/O Operators" in perlop, IO::Handle IO::File

## HISTORY

Derived from FileHandle.pm by Graham Barr \<gbarr@pobox.com\>