---
name: truncate
status: documented
runtime: pp
source: src/runtime/pp/io.rs
---
```{index} single: truncate; Perl built-in (pp runtime)
```

# truncate

## Synopsis

```perl
truncate($fh, $length);          # by open filehandle
truncate('/path/to/file', $len);  # by filename
```

## Description

Truncates a file to a specified length.

Truncates the file identified by the first argument to at most LENGTH
bytes. The first argument may be either an open filehandle or a
filename string. When given a filename, the file is opened for writing
just long enough to perform the truncation.

Returns 1 on success, `undef` on failure (e.g. permissions, invalid
filehandle).

## See also

open, seek, tell