The sem_trywait function locks a semaphore only if the semaphore is currently not locked. If the semaphore value is zero, the sem_ trywait function returns without locking the semaphore. The sem_wait and sem_trywait functions help ensure that the resource associated with the semaphore cannot be accessed by other processes. The semaphore remains locked until the process unlocks it with a call to the sem_post function. Use the sem_wait function instead of the sem_trywait function if the process should wait for access to the semaphore.