---
name: "listxattr"
section: "2"
platform: "macos"
package: "xnu"
version: "12377.121.6"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["linux", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/listxattr"
---

# listxattr(2)

list extended attribute names

## NAME

**listxattr,** **flistxattr** – list extended attribute names

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<sys/xattr.h\>**

*ssize\_t*\

**listxattr**(*const char \*path*, *char \*namebuf*, *size\_t size*, *int options*);

*ssize\_t*\

**flistxattr**(*int fd*, *char \*namebuf*, *size\_t size*, *int options*);

## DESCRIPTION

Extended attributes extend the basic attributes associated with files and directories in the file system.  They are stored as name:data pairs associated with file system objects (files, directories, symlinks, etc).

**listxattr**() retrieves a list of names of extended attributes associated with the given *path* in the file system.

*namebuf* is a data buffer of *size* bytes for the names of the extended attributes associated with *path*. The extended attribute names are simple NULL-terminated UTF-8 strings and are returned in arbitrary order.  No extra padding is provided between names in the buffer.  The list will only include names of extended attributes to which the calling process has access.  The function returns the size of the list of names.

*options* controls how the attribute list is generated:

- XATTR\_NOFOLLOW

  do not follow symbolic links. **listxattr**() normally lists attributes of the target of *path* if it is a symbolic link.  With this option, **listxattr**() will list attributes of the link itself.

- XATTR\_NOFOLLOW\_ANY

  do not follow any symbolic links encountered during pathname resolution. An error is returned if a symlink is encountered before the last component of path.

- XATTR\_RESOLVE\_BENEATH

  If *path* does not reside in the hierarchy beneath the starting directory, an error is returned.

- XATTR\_SHOWCOMPRESSION

  **listxattr**() and  **flistxattr**() will list HFS Plus Compression extended attribute(s) (if present) for the file referred to by *path* or *fd*.

If *namebuf* is set to NULL, the function returns the size of the list of extended attribute names. This facility can be used to determine the size of a buffer sufficiently large to hold the names of the attributes currently associated with *path*.

**flistxattr**() is identical to **listxattr**(), except that it returns the list of extended attribute names associated with the open file referenced by file descriptor *fd*.

## RETURN VALUES

On success, the size of the extended attribute name list is returned.  If no accessible extended attributes are associated with the given *path* or *fd*, the function returns zero.  On failure, -1 is returned and the global variable *errno* is set as follows.

## ERRORS

- \[ENOTSUP\]

  The file system does not support extended attributes or has the feature disabled.

- \[ERANGE\]

  *namebuf* (as indicated by *size*) is too small to hold the list of names.

- \[EPERM\]

  *path* or *fd* refer to a file system object that does not support extended attributes. For example, resource forks don't support extended attributes.

- \[ENOTDIR\]

  A component of *path*, *'s* prefix is not a directory.

- \[ENAMETOOLONG\]

  *name* exceeds XATTR\_MAXNAMELEN UTF-8 bytes, or a component of *path* exceeds NAME\_MAX characters, or the entire *path* exceeds PATH\_MAX characters.

- \[EACCES\]

  Search permission is denied for a component of *path* or permission is denied to read the list of attributes from this file.

- \[ELOOP\]

  Too many symbolic links were encountered resolving *path*.

- \[ELOOP\]

  If XATTR\_NOFOLLOW\_ANY option was passed and a symbolic link was encountered in translating the pathname.

- \[EFAULT\]

  *path* points to an invalid address.

- \[EIO\]

  An I/O error occurred.

- \[EINVAL\]

  *options* has an unsupported bit set.

- \[EINVAL\]

  XATTR\_NOFOLLOW, XATTR\_NOFOLLOW\_ANY or XATTR\_RESOLVE\_BENEATH option was passed in **flistxattr**().

- \[ENOTCAPABLE\]

  If XATTR\_RESOLVE\_BENEATH was passed and *path* does not reside in the directory hierarchy beneath the starting directory.

## SEE ALSO

[getxattr(2)](/getxattr/2.md), [removexattr(2)](/removexattr/2.md), [setxattr(2)](/setxattr/2.md)

## HISTORY

**listxattr**() and **flistxattr**() first appeared in Mac OS X 10.4.