table of contents
getpw(3) | Library Functions Manual | getpw(3) |
NAME¶
getpw - reconstruct password line entry
LIBRARY¶
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS¶
#define _GNU_SOURCE /* See feature_test_macros(7) */ #include <sys/types.h> #include <pwd.h>
[[deprecated]] int getpw(uid_t uid, char *buf);
DESCRIPTION¶
The getpw() function reconstructs the password line entry for the given user ID uid in the buffer buf. The returned buffer contains a line of format
name:passwd:uid:gid:gecos:dir:shell
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 getpw() function returns 0 on success; on error, it returns -1, and errno is set to indicate the error.
If uid is not found in the password database, getpw() returns -1, sets errno to 0, and leaves buf unchanged.
ERRORS¶
FILES¶
- /etc/passwd
- password database file
ATTRIBUTES¶
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
Interface | Attribute | Value |
getpw () | Thread safety | MT-Safe locale |
STANDARDS¶
None.
HISTORY¶
SVr2.
BUGS¶
The getpw() function is dangerous as it may overflow the provided buffer buf. It is obsoleted by getpwuid(3).
SEE ALSO¶
endpwent(3), fgetpwent(3), getpwent(3), getpwnam(3), getpwuid(3), putpwent(3), setpwent(3), passwd(5)
2024-05-02 | Linux man-pages 6.8 |