Linux manual pages Section 3: Subroutines  

Name

getpwent, setpwent, endpwent — get password file entry

Synopsis

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <pwd.h>
struct passwd *getpwent( void);  
 
void setpwent( void);  
 
void endpwent( void);  
 
[Note] Note
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
getpwent(), setpwent(), endpwent():
_BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED

DESCRIPTION

The getpwent() function returns a pointer to a structure containing the broken-out fields of a record from the password database (e.g., the local password file /etc/passwd, NIS, and LDAP). The first time getpwent() is called, it returns the first entry; thereafter, it returns successive entries.

The setpwent() function rewinds to the beginning of the password database.

The endpwent() function is used to close the password database after all processing has been performed.

The passwd structure is defined in <pwd.h> as follows:

struct passwd {
  char * pw_name;
/* username */
  char * pw_passwd;
/* user password */
  uid_t   pw_uid;
/* user ID */
  gid_t   pw_gid;
/* group ID */
  char * pw_gecos;
/* user information */
  char * pw_dir;
/* home directory */
  char * pw_shell;
/* shell program */
};

For more information about the fields of this structure, see passwd(5).

RETURN VALUE

The getpwent() function returns a pointer to a passwd structure, or NULL if there are no more entries or an error occurs. If an error occurs, errno is set appropriately. If one wants to check errno after the call, it should be set to zero before the call.

The return value may point to a static area, and may be overwritten by subsequent calls to getpwent(), getpwnam(3), or getpwuid(3). (Do not pass the returned pointer to free(3).)

ERRORS

EINTR

A signal was caught.

EIO

I/O error.

EMFILE

The maximum number (OPEN_MAX) of files was open already in the calling process.

ENFILE

The maximum number of files was open already in the system.

ENOMEM

Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.

ERANGE

Insufficient buffer space supplied.

FILES

/etc/passwd

local password database file

ATTRIBUTES

Multithreading (see pthreads(7))

The getpwent() function is not thread-safe.

The setpwent() and endpwent() functions are thread-safe.

CONFORMING TO

SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001. The pw_gecos field is not specified in POSIX, but is present on most implementations.

SEE ALSO

fgetpwent(3), getpw(3), getpwent_r(3), getpwnam(3), getpwuid(3), putpwent(3), passwd(5)

COLOPHON

This page is part of release 3.52 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man−pages/.


  Copyright 1993 David Metcalfe (davidprism.demon.co.uk)

%%%LICENSE_START(VERBATIM)
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

Since the Linux kernel and libraries are constantly changing, this
manual page may be incorrect or out-of-date.  The author(s) assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from
the use of the information contained herein.  The author(s) may not
have taken the same level of care in the production of this manual,
which is licensed free of charge, as they might when working
professionally.

Formatted or processed versions of this manual, if unaccompanied by
the source, must acknowledge the copyright and authors of this work.
%%%LICENSE_END

References consulted:
    Linux libc source code
    Lewine's _POSIX Programmer's Guide_ (O'Reilly & Associates, 1991)
    386BSD man pages

Modified Sat Jul 24 19:22:14 1993 by Rik Faith (faithcs.unc.edu)
Modified Mon May 27 21:37:47 1996 by Martin Schulze (joeylinux.de)