#include "libut/ut.h"
UT_iob *UT_iob_create(void);
This function creates an iob data structure and returns a pointer to it. The name iob derives from input-output buffer since that was its original purpose. The iob is a dynamic-length binary buffer. In other words, it can be appended to indefinitely.
Data can be appended to the iob using UT_iob_printf(3) for formatted text or
UT_iob_append(3) to copy a binary buffer into the iob. These functions can be
called repeatedly and mixed together; they always append to the iob.
The content of the iob can be extracted using UT_iob_writefd(3) to write the
contents to a file descriptor directly or UT_iob_flatten(3) to create a
memory buffer of the iob content. An iob's length in bytes can be obtained using
UT_iob_len(3). When finished with an iob, UT_iob_free(3) must be called to
release its internal memory buffers.
Internally an iob is a linked-list of malloc'd buffers. Each UT_iob_printf(3)
or UT_iob_append(3) appends a link to the list.
UT_iob_printf(3), UT_iob_append(3), UT_iob_free(3),
UT_iob_writefd(3), UT_iob_bufcmp(3), UT_iob_flatten(3),
UT_iob_len(3)
Troy D. Hanson <thanson@users.sourceforge.net>