.\" gd_carray_len.3.  The gd_carray_len man page.
.\"
.\" Copyright (C) 2010 D. V. Wiebe
.\"
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.\" This file is part of the GetData project.
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.TH gd_carray_len 3 "3 November 2010" "Version 0.7.0" "GETDATA"
.SH NAME
gd_carray_len \(em returns the length of a CARRAY field in a dirfile
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <getdata.h>
.HP
.nh
.ad l
.BI "size_t gd_carray_len(DIRFILE *" dirfile ", const char *" field_code );
.hy
.ad n
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR gd_carray_len ()
function queries a dirfile(5) database specified by
.I dirfile
and returns the number of length of the
.B CARRAY
field
.IR field_code .
If
.I field_code
contains a valid representation suffix, it will be ignored.  

The 
.I dirfile
argument must point to a valid DIRFILE object previously created by a call to
.BR gd_open (3).

.SH RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion,
.BR gd_carray_len ()
returns the length of the field specified.  On error, it returns zero and sets
the dirfile error to a non-zero error value.  Possible error values are:
.TP 8
.B GD_E_BAD_CODE
The field specified by
.I field_code
was not found in the database.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE
The supplied dirfile was invalid.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_FIELD_TYPE
The field specified by
.I field_code
was not of
.B CARRAY
type.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_REPR
The representation suffix specified in
.I field_code
was not recognised.
.PP
The dirfile error may be retrieved by calling
.BR gd_error (3).
A descriptive error string for the last error encountered can be obtained from
a call to
.BR gd_error_string (3).
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR dirfile (5),
.BR gd_open (3),
.BR gd_error (3),
.BR gd_error_string (3)