.\" gd_nfields.3.  The gd_nfields man page.
.\"
.\" Copyright (C) 2008, 2010 D. V. Wiebe
.\"
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.\" This file is part of the GetData project.
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.TH gd_nfields 3 "16 July 2010" "Version 0.7.0" "GETDATA"
.SH NAME
gd_nfields \(em report the number of fields in a dirfile
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <getdata.h>
.HP
.nh
.ad l
.BI "unsigned int gd_nfields(DIRFILE *" dirfile );
.hy
.ad n
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR gd_nfields ()
function queries a dirfile(5) database specified by
.I dirfile
and returns the number of fields defined in the database.  Notably, this count
does not include /META fields.

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_nfields ()
returns the number of defined fields in the dirfile.  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_DIRFILE
The supplied dirfile was invalid.
.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),
.BR gd_field_list (3),
.BR gd_nfields_by_type (3),
.BR gd_nmfields (3),
.BR gd_nvectors (3)