--- name: "gd_move" section: "3" platform: "linux" package: "libgetdata-doc" version: "0.11.0-15" release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/gd_move" --- # gd\_move(3) move a Dirfile entry between format specification fragments ## NAME gd\_move — move a Dirfile entry between format specification fragments ## SYNOPSIS **#include \** **int gd\_move(DIRFILE \****dirfile***, const char** **\****field\_code***, int** *new\_fragment***, unsigned int** *flags***);** ## DESCRIPTION The **gd\_move**() function transfers the field or alias specified by *field\_code*, which should not have a representation suffix, defined in the dirfile specified by *dirfile* from it's current format specification fragment to the fragment indexed by *new\_fragment*. If the field is already defined in the fragment index by *new\_fragment*, this function does nothing and returns no error. If the new fragment has different affixes, the field will be renamed as part of the move. See [**gd\_rename**(3)](/gd_rename/3.md) for details on field renaming. The field is closed before moving, resulting in it's I/O pointer being reset to the beginning-of-field. The *flags* parameter should be zero or more of the following flags, bitwise or'd together:\ .TP 8 **GD\_REN\_DANGLE** By default, if the move results in a change of name for the field due to differing fragment affixes, **ALIAS** entries pointing to this field will be updated with the field's new name. Specifying this flag prohibits this behaviour, turning these aliases into dangling aliases. If moving the field doesn't rename it, this flag is ignored.\ .TP 8 **GD\_REN\_DATA** If *field\_code* specifies a **RAW** field, the binary file associated with the field will be translated to account for the possibly different encoding, endianness, and frame offset of the new format specification fragment. It will also be moved to a new directory, if necessary. If this flag is not specified, no changes will be made to the binary file. If *field\_code* specifies a field of type other than **RAW**, this flag is ignored. If the binary file is translated, and the frame offset of the destination fragment is larger than that of the source fragment, this will result in permanent deletion of data from the database. If the new frame offset is smaller than the old frame offset, the binary file will be padded at the front with zeroes.\ .TP 8 **GD\_REN\_FORCE** Skip updating entries which would be invalid (see [**gd\_rename**(3)](/gd_rename/3.md) for details). By default, an invalid field causes the move to fail. If moving the field doesn't rename it, this flag is ignored.\ .TP 8 **GD\_REN\_UPDB** If moving the field renames it, update entries which use this field as an input to account for the new name (see [**gd\_rename**(3)](/gd_rename/3.md)). If moving the field doesn't rename it, this flag is ignored. ## RETURN VALUE On success, **gd\_move**() returns zero. On error, a negative-valued error code is returned. Possible error codes are:\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_ACCMODE** The specified dirfile was opened read-only.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_ALLOC** The library was unable to allocate memory.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_BAD\_CODE** The field specified by *field\_code* was not found, or else the move resulted in the field being renamed and the resultant metadata update tried to change a field code into something prohibited by a fragment's affixes.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_BAD\_DIRFILE** The supplied dirfile was invalid.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_BAD\_FIELD\_TYPE** An attempt was made to move the immutable *INDEX* field.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_BAD\_INDEX** The *new\_fragment* argument did not index a valid format specification fragment.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_IO** An I/O error occurred while attempting to translate a binary file.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_PROTECTED** The metadata of the source or destination format specification fragments was protected from change, or the binary data of the source or destination fragments was protected from change and binary file translation was requested.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_UNKNOWN\_ENCODING** The encoding scheme of the source or destination fragment is unknown.\ .TP 8 **GD\_E\_UNSUPPORTED** The encoding scheme of the source or destination fragment does not support binary file translation. The error code is also stored in the **DIRFILE** object and may be retrieved after this function returns by calling [**gd\_error**(3)](/gd_error/3.md). A descriptive error string for the error may be obtained by calling [**gd\_error\_string**(3)](/gd_error_string/3.md). ## NOTES A binary file translation occurs out-of-place. As a result, sufficient space must be present on the filesystem for both the binary file before translation and the binary file after translation. ## HISTORY The **dirfile\_move**() function appeared in GetData-0.5.0. It had no *flags* parameter. In place of *flags* was **int** *move\_data*. Passing a non-zero value for this parameter had the same effect as the **GD\_REN\_DATA** flag does now. In GetData-0.7.0, this function was renamed to **gd\_move**(). In all GetData-0.8.x releases, passing an alias name to this function would move the target of the alias. To move an alias itself, a separate function, **gd\_move\_alias**() was available. In GetData-0.9.0, **gd\_move\_alias**() was removed. Also in this release, the *move\_data* parameter was repaced with the *flags* parameter. In GetData-0.10.0, the error return from this function changed from -1 to a negative-valued error code. ## SEE ALSO [**gd\_metaflush**(3)](/gd_metaflush/3.md), [**gd\_open**(3)](/gd_open/3.md), [**gd\_error**(3)](/gd_error/3.md), [**gd\_error\_string**(3)](/gd_error_string/3.md), [dirfile(5)](/dirfile/5.md), [dirfile-format(5)](/dirfile-format/5.md)