getpw

Synopsis

#define _GNU_SOURCE             /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <pwd.h>

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

0 or ENOENT

No user corresponding to uid.

EINVAL

buf is NULL.

ENOMEM

Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.

Files

/etc/passwd

password database file

Attributes

For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).

Conforming to

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)

Colophon

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Referenced By

fgetpwent(3), getpwent(3), getpwent_r(3), getpwnam(3), putpwent(3).