In the vast realm of Linux, where countless commands and operations shape the digital landscape, error codes act as subtle messengers. They whisper tales of triumphs and challenges, providing crucial insights into the inner workings of the system. Whether you’re a seasoned Linux user or a curious newcomer, understanding these error codes is essential for unraveling the mysteries that lie beneath the surface.

Linux error codes serve as a silent language, conveying information about the outcome of operations, the status of resources, and the state of the system. They reflect the triumphs of successful operations, the frustrations of permission denials, and the challenges encountered during input/output processes. Behind each error code lies a story, waiting to be deciphered and resolved.

This article embarks on a journey to demystify Linux error codes, shedding light on their meanings and implications. We will delve into the realm of permissions, file systems, devices, and network connectivity, exploring the diverse scenarios where these error codes emerge. By unraveling the language of error codes, we aim to empower Linux users to tackle issues more effectively, troubleshoot with confidence, and make informed decisions in the face of adversity.

Throughout this exploration, we will not only decode the technical aspects but also provide a human touch. Understanding Linux error codes requires more than mere technical comprehension—it necessitates a connection to the challenges, frustrations, and triumphs experienced by users. By embracing a human perspective, we aim to make this journey accessible to readers of all backgrounds, fostering a deeper appreciation for the intricacies of the Linux operating system.

So, whether you’ve encountered an enigmatic error code during a routine task or are simply intrigued by the inner workings of Linux, join us as we unravel the secrets embedded within the error codes. Together, we will navigate through the realms of permissions, processes, file systems, network communications, and much more, ultimately emerging with a clearer understanding of the language spoken by Linux error codes.

Table of Contents

List of error codes in Linux

Error Code	Description
EPERM	Operation not permitted: The requested operation is not allowed for the current user or process.
EACCES	Permission denied: The user does not have sufficient permissions to perform the operation.
ENOENT	No such file or directory: The specified file or directory does not exist.
ESRCH	No such process: The specified process does not exist.
EINTR	Interrupted system call: The operation was interrupted by a signal.
EIO	Input/output error: There was an error during input/output operations.
ENXIO	No such device or address: The specified device or address does not exist.
E2BIG	Argument list too long: The argument list for the operation exceeds the system-defined limit.
ENOEXEC	Exec format error: The executable file format is not recognized.
EBADF	Bad file descriptor: The file descriptor provided is not valid.
ECHILD	No child processes: There are no child processes to wait for.
EAGAIN	Resource temporarily unavailable: The requested resource is temporarily unavailable.
ENOMEM	Out of memory: There is not enough memory available to perform the operation.
EFAULT	Bad address: The memory address provided is invalid or inaccessible.
ENOTBLK	Block device required: The specified file is not a block device.
EBUSY	Device or resource busy: The requested device or resource is currently in use.
EEXIST	File exists: The specified file or directory already exists.
EXDEV	Cross-device link: The operation involves linking across different devices.
ENODEV	No such device: The specified device does not exist.
ENOTDIR	Not a directory: The specified path is not a directory.
EISDIR	Is a directory: The operation expects a file but encounters a directory.
EINVAL	Invalid argument: The provided argument is not valid for the operation.
ENFILE	File table overflow: The maximum number of files that can be open simultaneously has been reached.
EMFILE	Too many open files: The process has reached the maximum number of open files.
ENOTTY	Inappropriate ioctl for device: The ioctl operation is not supported by the specified device.
ETXTBSY	Text file busy: The requested file is currently being executed or modified.
EFBIG	File too large: The file size exceeds the system-defined limit.
ENOSPC	No space left on device: There is no more available space on the device.
ESPIPE	Illegal seek: The file descriptor does not support the requested seek operation.
EROFS	Read-only file system: The file system is mounted as read-only.
EMLINK	Too many links: The maximum number of links to a file has been reached.
EPIPE	Broken pipe: The reading end of a pipe has been closed.
EDOM	Numerical argument out of domain: The mathematical function encountered an argument outside its valid range.
ERANGE	Result too large: The result of a mathematical operation is too large to be represented.
EDEADLK	Resource deadlock would occur: A resource deadlock has been detected.
ENAMETOOLONG	File name too long: The specified file name exceeds the system-defined limit.
ENOLCK	No record locks available: There are no more available file record locks.
ENOSYS	Function not implemented: The requested function is not implemented on this platform.
ENOTEMPTY	Directory not empty: The directory is not empty and cannot be removed.
ELOOP	Too many symbolic links encountered: The operation encountered too many symbolic links.
ENOMSG	No message of desired type: The requested message type does not exist in the message queue.
EIDRM	Identifier removed: The shared memory or message queue identifier has been removed.
ECHRNG	Channel number out of range: The specified channel number is out of the valid range.
EL2NSYNC	Level 2 not synchronized: The level 2 cache on the system is not synchronized.
EL3HLT	Level 3 halted: The level 3 cache on the system has been halted.
EL3RST	Level 3 reset: The level 3 cache on the system has been reset.
ELNRNG	Link number out of range: The specified link number is out of the valid range.
EUNATCH	Protocol driver not attached: The specified communication protocol driver is not attached.
ENOCSI	No CSI structure available: The CSI (Control Status Indicator) structure is not available.
EL2HLT	Level 2 halted: The level 2 cache on the system has been halted.
EBADE	Invalid exchange: An invalid exchange has been encountered.
EBADR	Invalid request descriptor: The request descriptor is not valid.
EXFULL	Exchange full: The exchange is full and cannot accept more data.
ENOANO	No anode: The specified device does not support the required operations.
EBADRQC	Invalid request code: The request code is not valid for the specified device.
EBADSLT	Invalid slot: The specified slot is not valid.
EBFONT	Bad font file format: The font file format is not recognized or supported.
ENOSTR	Device not a stream: The specified device is not a stream.
ENODATA	No data available: There is no data available on the specified stream.
ETIME	Timer expired: The timer associated with the operation has expired.
ENOSR	Out of streams resources: The system has reached the maximum limit of streams resources.
ENONET	Machine is not on the network: The specified machine is not connected to the network.
ENOPKG	Package not installed: The required software package is not installed.
EREMOTE	Object is remote: The object is located on a remote system.
ENOLINK	Link has been severed: The link to the remote system has been severed.
EADV	Advertise error: There was an error in advertising the specified address.
ESRMNT	Srmount error: There was an error in mounting the specified shared resource.
ECOMM	Communication error on send: There was a communication error while sending data.
EPROTO	Protocol error: A protocol error has occurred.
EMULTIHOP	Multihop attempted: A multihop operation was attempted.
EDOTDOT	RFS specific error: An error specific to the Remote File Sharing (RFS) system has occurred.
EBADMSG	Not a data message: The received message is not a valid data message.
EOVERFLOW	Value too large to be stored in data type: The value to be stored exceeds the limit of the data type.
ENOTUNIQ	Name not unique on network: The specified name is not unique on the network.
EBADFD	File descriptor in bad state: The file descriptor is in a bad state and cannot be used.
EREMCHG	Remote address changed: The remote address has changed.
ELIBACC	Can not access a needed shared library: The shared library required by the program cannot be accessed.
ELIBBAD	Accessing a corrupted shared library: The shared library being accessed is corrupted.
ELIBSCN	.lib section in a.out corrupted: The .lib section in the a.out file is corrupted.
ELIBMAX	Attempting to link in too many shared libraries: The program is attempting to link with too many shared libraries.
ELIBEXEC	Cannot exec a shared library directly: A shared library cannot be executed directly.
EILSEQ	Illegal byte sequence: The input contains an illegal byte sequence.
ERESTART	Interrupted system call should be restarted: The interrupted system call should be restarted.
ESTRPIPE	Streams pipe error: An error has occurred in the streams pipe.
EUSERS	Too many users: The system has reached the maximum number of users.
ENOTSOCK	Socket operation on non-socket: The operation is not valid for a non-socket file descriptor.
EDESTADDRREQ	Destination address required: The destination address is required for the operation.
EMSGSIZE	Message too long: The size of the message exceeds the system-defined limit.
EPROTOTYPE	Protocol wrong type for socket: The protocol specified for the socket is not the correct type.
ENOPROTOOPT	Protocol not available: The requested protocol is not available.
EPROTONOSUPPORT	Protocol not supported: The requested protocol is not supported.
ESOCKTNOSUPPORT	Socket type not supported: The requested socket type is not supported.
EOPNOTSUPP	Operation not supported on socket: The requested operation is not supported on the socket.
EPFNOSUPPORT	Protocol family not supported: The specified protocol family is not supported.
EAFNOSUPPORT	Address family not supported: The specified address family is not supported.
EADDRINUSE	Address already in use: The specified address is already in use.
EADDRNOTAVAIL	Cannot assign requested address: The requested address cannot be assigned.
ENETDOWN	Network is down: The network is down and cannot be reached.
ENETUNREACH	Network is unreachable: The network destination is unreachable.
ENETRESET	Network dropped connection because of reset: The network connection was reset.
ECONNABORTED	Software caused connection abort: The connection was aborted by software.
ECONNRESET	Connection reset by peer: The connection was reset by the peer.
ENOBUFS	No buffer space available: There are no available buffer space or resources.
EISCONN	Transport endpoint is already connected: The transport endpoint is already connected.
ENOTCONN	Transport endpoint is not connected: The transport endpoint is not connected.
ESHUTDOWN	Cannot send after transport endpoint shutdown: The transport endpoint has been shut down and cannot send data.
ETOOMANYREFS	Too many references: There are too many references to the resource.
ETIMEDOUT	Connection timed out: The connection has timed out.
ECONNREFUSED	Connection refused: The connection request was refused by the remote host.
EHOSTDOWN	Host is down: The remote host is down.
EHOSTUNREACH	No route to host: There is no route to the remote host.
EALREADY	Operation already in progress: The operation is already in progress.
EINPROGRESS	Operation now in progress: The operation is now in progress.
ESTALE	Stale file handle: The file handle is no longer valid.
EUCLEAN	Structure needs cleaning: The structure or object requires cleaning.
ENOTNAM	Not a XENIX named type file: The file is not a XENIX named type file.
ENAVAIL	No XENIX semaphores available: There are no available XENIX semaphores.
EISNAM	Is a named type file: The file is a named type file.
EREMOTEIO	Remote I/O error: There was an error in remote I/O operation.
EDQUOT	Disk quota exceeded: The disk quota limit has been exceeded.
ENOMEDIUM	No medium found: No medium (e.g., disk or tape) was found.
EMEDIUMTYPE	Wrong medium type: The medium detected is of the wrong type.
ECANCELED	Operation canceled: The operation was canceled.
ENOKEY	Required key not available: The required encryption key is not available.
EKEYEXPIRED	Key has expired: The encryption key has expired.
EKEYREVOKED	Key has been revoked: The encryption key has been revoked.
EKEYREJECTED	Key was rejected by the service: The encryption key was rejected by the service.
EOWNERDEAD	Owner died: The owner of a resource died and the resource is left in an inconsistent state.
ENOTRECOVERABLE	State not recoverable: The state is not recoverable.