Manual: flock
FLOCK(1) User Commands FLOCK(1)
NAME
flock - manage locks from shell scripts
SYNOPSIS
flock [options] file|directory command [arguments]
flock [options] file|directory -c command
flock [options] number
DESCRIPTION
This utility manages flock(2) locks from within shell scripts or from the command line.
The first and second of the above forms wrap the lock around the execution of a command, in a manner
similar to su(1) or newgrp(1). They lock a specified file or directory, which is created (assuming
appropriate permissions) if it does not already exist. By default, if the lock cannot be immediately
acquired, flock waits until the lock is available.
The third form uses an open file by its file descriptor number. See the examples below for how that
can be used.
OPTIONS
-c, --command command
Pass a single command, without arguments, to the shell with -c.
-E, --conflict-exit-code number
The exit status used when the -n option is in use, and the conflicting lock exists, or the -w
option is in use, and the timeout is reached. The default value is 1. The number has to be in the
range of 0 to 255.
-F, --no-fork
Do not fork before executing command. Upon execution the flock process is replaced by command
which continues to hold the lock. This option is incompatible with --close as there would
otherwise be nothing left to hold the lock.
-e, -x, --exclusive
Obtain an exclusive lock, sometimes called a write lock. This is the default.
-n, --nb, --nonblock
Fail rather than wait if the lock cannot be immediately acquired. See the -E option for the exit
status used.
-o, --close
Close the file descriptor on which the lock is held before executing command. This is useful if
command spawns a child process which should not be holding the lock.
-s, --shared
Obtain a shared lock, sometimes called a read lock.
-u, --unlock
Drop a lock. This is usually not required, since a lock is automatically dropped when the file is
closed. However, it may be required in special cases, for example if the enclosed command group
may have forked a background process which should not be holding the lock.
-w, --wait, --timeout seconds
Fail if the lock cannot be acquired within seconds. Decimal fractional values are allowed. See
the -E option for the exit status used. The zero number of seconds is interpreted as --nonblock.
--fcntl
Instead of flock(2), apply an fcntl(2) open file description lock (that is, using the F_OFD_SETLK
(non-blocking) or F_OFD_SETLKW (blocking) commands). These locks are independent of those applied
via flock(2), but, unlike traditional POSIX fcntl() locks (F_SETLK, F_SETLKW), have semantics
matching those of flock(2).
This is only available on kernel versions >= 3.15.
--verbose
Report how long it took to acquire the lock, or why the lock could not be obtained.
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-V, --version
Display version and exit.
EXIT STATUS
The command uses exit status values for everything, except when using either of the
options -n or -w which report a failure to acquire the lock with an exit status given by the -E
option, or 1 by default. The exit status given by -E has to be in the range of 0 to 255.
When using the command variant, and executing the child worked, then the exit status is that of the
child command.
NOTES
flock does not detect deadlock. See flock(2) for details.
Some file systems (e. g. NFS and CIFS) have a limited implementation of flock(2) and flock may always
fail. For details see flock(2), nfs(5) and mount.cifs(8). Depending on mount options, flock can
always fail there.
EXAMPLES
Note that "shell> " in examples is a command line prompt.
shell1> flock /tmp -c cat; shell2> flock -w .007 /tmp -c echo; /bin/echo $?
Set exclusive lock to directory /tmp and the second command will fail.
shell1> flock -s /tmp -c cat; shell2> flock -s -w .007 /tmp -c echo; /bin/echo $?
Set shared lock to directory /tmp and the second command will not fail. Notice that attempting to
get exclusive lock with second command would fail.
shell> flock -x local-lock-file echo 'a b c'
Grab the exclusive lock "local-lock-file" before running echo with 'a b c'.
(; flock -n 9 || exit 1; # ... commands executed under lock ...; ) 9>/var/lock/mylockfile
The form is convenient inside shell scripts. The mode used to open the file doesnât matter to
flock; using > or >> allows the lockfile to be created if it does not already exist, however,
write permission is required. Using < requires that the file already exists but only read
permission is required.
[ "${FLOCKER}" != "$0" ] && exec env FLOCKER="$0" flock -en "$0" "$0" "$@" || :
This is useful boilerplate code for shell scripts. Put it at the top of the shell script you want
to lock and itâll automatically lock itself on the first run. If the environment variable
$FLOCKER is not set to the shell script that is being run, then execute flock and grab an
exclusive non-blocking lock (using the script itself as the lock file) before re-execing itself
with the right arguments. It also sets the FLOCKER environment variable to the right value so it
doesnât run again.
shell> exec 4<>/var/lock/mylockfile; shell> flock -n 4
This form is convenient for locking a file without spawning a subprocess. The shell opens the
lock file for reading and writing as file descriptor 4, then flock is used to lock the
descriptor.
AUTHORS
H. Peter Anvin
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2003-2006 H. Peter Anvin. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.
There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
SEE ALSO
flock(2), fcntl(2)
REPORTING BUGS
For bug reports, use the issue tracker .
AVAILABILITY
The flock command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
.
util-linux 2.41.3 2025-12-15 FLOCK(1)