Man Page fork.3f

NAME

     fork - create a copy of this process

SYNOPSIS

     integer*4 function fork()

DESCRIPTION

     The fork function creates a copy  of  the  calling  process.
     The  only  distinction between the two processes is that the
     value returned to one of them, referred to as  the  'parent'
     process, is the process id of the copy.  The copy is usually
     referred to as the `child' process.  The value  returned  to
     the `child' process is zero.

     All logical units open for writing are  flushed  before  the
     fork  to avoid duplication of the contents of I/O buffers in
     the external files.

     If the returned value is negative, it indicates an error and
     is the negation of the system error code.  See perror(3F).

     A corresponding exec routine has not been  provided  because
     there  is  no  satisfactory way to retain open logical units
     across the exec.  However, the usual function  of  fork/exec
     can be performed using system(3F).

FILES

     libF77.a

SEE ALSO

     fork(2), wait(3F), kill(3F), system(3F), perror(3F)