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NAME |SYNOPSIS |DESCRIPTION |RETURN VALUE |NOTES |HISTORY |SEE ALSO |COLOPHON | |
SD_JOURNAL_SEEK_HEAD(3) sd_journal_seek_headSD_JOURNAL_SEEK_HEAD(3)sd_journal_seek_head, sd_journal_seek_tail, sd_journal_seek_monotonic_usec, sd_journal_seek_realtime_usec, sd_journal_seek_cursor - Seek to a position in the journal
#include <systemd/sd-journal.h>int sd_journal_seek_head(sd_journal *j);int sd_journal_seek_tail(sd_journal *j);int sd_journal_seek_monotonic_usec(sd_journal *j,sd_id128_tboot_id,uint64_tusec);int sd_journal_seek_realtime_usec(sd_journal *j, uint64_tusec);int sd_journal_seek_cursor(sd_journal *j, const char *cursor);
sd_journal_seek_head()seeks to the beginning of the journal, i.e. to the position before the oldest available entry. Similarly,sd_journal_seek_tail()may be used to seek to the end of the journal, i.e. the position after the most recent available entry.sd_journal_seek_monotonic_usec()seeks to a position with the specified monotonic timestamp, i.e.CLOCK_MONOTONIC. Since monotonic time restarts on every reboot a boot ID needs to be specified as well.sd_journal_seek_realtime_usec()seeks to a position with the specified realtime (wallclock) timestamp, i.e.CLOCK_REALTIME. Note that the realtime clock is not necessarily monotonic. If a realtime timestamp is ambiguous, it is not defined which position is sought to.sd_journal_seek_cursor()seeks to the position at the specified cursor string. For details on cursors, seesd_journal_get_cursor(3). If no entry matching the specified cursor is found the call will seek to the next closest entry (in terms of time) instead. Note that these calls do not actually make any entry the new current entry, this needs to be done in a separate step with a subsequentsd_journal_next(3) invocation (or a similar call). Only then, entry data may be retrieved viasd_journal_get_data(3) or an entry cursor be retrieved viasd_journal_get_cursor(3). If no entry exists that matches exactly the specified seek address, the next closest is sought to. Ifsd_journal_next(3) is used, the closest following entry will be sought to, ifsd_journal_previous(3) is used the closest preceding entry is sought to. After the seek is done, andsd_journal_next(3) or a similar call has been made,sd_journal_test_cursor(3) may be used to verify whether the newly selected entry actually matches the cursor.
The functions return 0 on success or a negative errno-style error code.
All functions listed here are thread-agnostic and only a single specific thread may operate on a given object during its entire lifetime. It is safe to allocate multiple independent objects and use each from a specific thread in parallel. However, it is not safe to allocate such an object in one thread, and operate or free it from any other, even if locking is used to ensure these threads do not operate on it at the very same time. Functions described here are available as a shared library, which can be compiled against and linked to with thelibsystemd pkg-config(1) file.
sd_journal_seek_head(),sd_journal_seek_tail(),sd_journal_seek_monotonic_usec(),sd_journal_seek_realtime_usec(), andsd_journal_seek_cursor()were added in version 187.
systemd(1),sd-journal(3),sd_journal_open(3),sd_journal_next(3),sd_journal_get_data(3),sd_journal_get_cursor(3),sd_journal_get_realtime_usec(3)
This page is part of thesystemd (systemd system and service manager) project. Information about the project can be found at ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd⟩. If you have a bug report for this manual page, see ⟨http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/#bugreports⟩. This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository ⟨https://github.com/systemd/systemd.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in the repository was 2025-08-11.) If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON (which isnot part of the original manual page), send a mail to man-pages@man7.orgsystemd 258~rc2SD_JOURNAL_SEEK_HEAD(3)Pages that refer to this page:sd-journal(3), sd_journal_get_cursor(3), sd_journal_next(3), sd_journal_open(3), systemd.directives(7), systemd.index(7)
HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 byMichael Kerrisk, author ofThe Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depthLinux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, lookhere. Hosting byjambit GmbH. | |