GETPWENT

Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3 )
Updated: 1996-05-27
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NAME

getpwent, setpwent, endpwent - get password file entry

SYNOPSIS

#include <pwd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>

struct passwd *getpwent(void);

void setpwent(void);

void endpwent(void);

DESCRIPTION

The getpwent() function returns a pointer to a structure containing the broken out fields of a line from /etc/passwd. The first time it is called it returns the first entry; thereafter, it returns successive entries.

The setpwent() function rewinds the file pointer to the beginning of the /etc/passwd file.

The endpwent() function closes the /etc/passwd file.

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


struct passwd {
        char    *pw_name;       /* user name */
        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 the passwd structure, or NULL if there are no more entries or an error occurs.

ERRORS

ENOMEM: Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.

FILES

/etc/passwd: password database file

CONFORMING TO

SVID 3, BSD 4.3

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