Manpages - if_nameindex.3
Table of Contents
NAME
if_nameindex, if_freenameindex - get network interface names and indexes
SYNOPSIS
#include <net/if.h> struct if_nameindex *if_nameindex(void); void if_freenameindex(struct if_nameindex *ptr);
DESCRIPTION
The *if_nameindex*() function returns an array of if_nameindex structures, each containing information about one of the network interfaces on the local system. The if_nameindex structure contains at least the following entries:
unsigned int if_index; /* Index of interface (1, 2, ...) */
char *if_name; /* Null-terminated name ("eth0", etc.) */
The if_index field contains the interface index. The if_name field points to the null-terminated interface name. The end of the array is indicated by entry with if_index set to zero and if_name set to NULL.
The data structure returned by *if_nameindex*() is dynamically allocated and should be freed using *if_freenameindex*() when no longer needed.
RETURN VALUE
On success, *if_nameindex*() returns pointer to the array; on error, NULL is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
*if_nameindex*() may fail and set errno if:
- ENOBUFS
- Insufficient resources available.
*if_nameindex*() may also fail for any of the errors specified for *socket*(2), *bind*(2), *ioctl*(2), *getsockname*(2), *recvmsg*(2), *sendto*(2), or *malloc*(3).
VERSIONS
The *if_nameindex*() function first appeared in glibc 2.1, but before glibc 2.3.4, the implementation supported only interfaces with IPv4 addresses. Support of interfaces that don’t have IPv4 addresses is available only on kernels that support netlink.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see *attributes*(7).
| Interface | Attribute | Value |
| *if_nameindex*(), *if_freenameindex*() | Thread safety | MT-Safe |
CONFORMING TO
POSIX.1-2001, POSIX.1-2008, RFC 3493.
This function first appeared in BSDi.
EXAMPLES
The program below demonstrates the use of the functions described on this page. An example of the output this program might produce is the following:
$ ./a.out 1: lo 2: wlan0 3: em1
Program source
#include <net/if.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
struct if_nameindex *if_ni, *i;
if_ni = if_nameindex();
if (if_ni == NULL) {
perror("if_nameindex");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
for (i = if_ni; ! (i->if_index == 0 && i->if_name == NULL); i++)
printf("%u: %s\n", i->if_index, i->if_name);
if_freenameindex(if_ni);
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
SEE ALSO
*getsockopt*(2), *setsockopt*(2), *getifaddrs*(3), *if_indextoname*(3), *if_nametoindex*(3), *ifconfig*(8)
COLOPHON
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