NAME

getpwent, getpwuid, getpwnam, setpwent, endpwent, fgetpwent − get password file entry

SYNOPSIS

#include <pwd.h>

struct passwd ∗getpwent()

struct passwd ∗getpwuid(uid)
int uid;

struct passwd ∗getpwnam(name)
char ∗name;

int setpwent()

int endpwent()

struct passwd ∗fgetpwent(f)
FILE ∗f;

DESCRIPTION

getpwent, getpwuid and getpwnam each return a pointer to an object with the following structure containing the broken-out fields of a line in the password file.  Each line in the file contains a “passwd” structure, declared in the <pwd.h> header file:

structpasswd { /∗ see getpwent(3) ∗/
char∗pw_name;
char∗pw_passwd;
intpw_uid;
intpw_gid;
char∗pw_age;
char∗pw_comment;
char∗pw_gecos;
char∗pw_dir;
char∗pw_shell;
};
 struct passwd ∗getpwent(), ∗getpwuid(), ∗getpwnam();

This structure is declared in <pwd.h> so it is not necessary to redeclare it. 

The field pw_comment is unused; the others have meanings described in passwd(5). When first called, getpwent returns a pointer to the first passwd structure in the file; thereafter, it returns a pointer to the next passwd structure in the file; so successive calls can be used to search the entire file.  Getpwuid searches from the beginning of the file until a numerical user id matching uid is found and returns a pointer to the particular structure in which it was found.  Getpwnam searches from the beginning of the file until a login name matching name is found, and returns a pointer to the particular structure in which it was found.  If an end-of-file or an error is encountered on reading, these functions return a NULL pointer. 

A call to setpwent has the effect of rewinding the password file to allow repeated searches.  endpwent may be called to close the password file when processing is complete. 

fgetpwent returns a pointer to the next passwd structure in the stream f, which matches the format of the password file /etc/passwd. 

The field, pw_age, is used to hold a value for “password aging” on some systems; “password aging” is not supported on Sun systems.  As such, it is effectively not used.

FILES

/etc/passwd
/etc/yp/domainname/passwd.byname
/etc/yp/domainname/passwd.byuid

SEE ALSO

getlogin(3), getgrent(3), passwd(5), ypserv(8), getpwent(3)

DIAGNOSTICS

A NULL pointer is returned on EOF or error. 

WARNING

The above routines use <stdio.h>, which causes them to increase the size of programs, not otherwise using standard I/O, more than might be expected. 

BUGS

All information is contained in a static area, so it must be copied if it is to be saved. 

Sun Release 3.2  —  Last change: 15 April 1986