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);
Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):
getpwent(), setpwent(), endpwent(): _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE > = 500
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 it 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; /* real name */ char *pw_dir; /* home directory */ char *pw_shell; /* shell program */ };
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 | |
CONFORMING TO
SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001.
SEE ALSO
fgetpwent(3), getpw(3), getpwent_r(3), getpwnam(3), getpwuid(3), putpwent(3), passwd(5)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.23 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/.
