Manpages - getpw.3

getpw - reconstruct password line entry

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

  int getpw(uid_t uid, char *buf);

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).

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.

0 or ENOENT

No user corresponding to uid.

EINVAL

buf is NULL.

ENOMEM

Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.

/etc/passwd

password database file

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

SVr2.

The *getpw*() function is dangerous as it may overflow the provided buffer buf. It is obsoleted by *getpwuid*(3).

*endpwent*(3), *fgetpwent*(3), *getpwent*(3), *getpwnam*(3), *getpwuid*(3), *putpwent*(3), *setpwent*(3), *passwd*(5)

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