system call

English

Noun

system call (plural system calls)

  1. (computing) A function provided by an operating system to allow userspace programs access to privileged features, such as accessing the system's hardware.
    The OS provides a system call to open a file, returning file descriptor that can be used to access it.
  2. (computing) A particular invocation of an operating-system-provided system-call function.
    After a system call, control is returned to the process.

Derived terms

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