getpw(3)

1GETPW(3)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                  GETPW(3)
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NAME

6       getpw - Re-construct password line entry
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SYNOPSIS

9       #define _GNU_SOURCE
10       #include <sys/types.h>
11       #include <pwd.h>
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13       int getpw(uid_t uid, char *buf);
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DESCRIPTION

16       The  getpw()  function  re-constructs  the  password line entry for the
17       given user ID uid in the buffer buf.  The returned  buffer  contains  a
18       line of format
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20              name:passwd:uid:gid:gecos:dir:shell
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22       The passwd structure is defined in <pwd.h> as follows:
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24           struct passwd {
25               char   *pw_name;       /* username */
26               char   *pw_passwd;     /* user password */
27               uid_t   pw_uid;        /* user ID */
28               gid_t   pw_gid;        /* group ID */
29               char   *pw_gecos;      /* real name */
30               char   *pw_dir;        /* home directory */
31               char   *pw_shell;      /* shell program */
32           };
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RETURN VALUE

35       The getpw() function returns 0 on success; on error, it returns -1, and
36       errno is set to indicate the error.
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ERRORS

39       EINVAL buf is NULL.
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41       ENOENT No user corresponding to uid.
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43       ENOMEM Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.
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FILES

46       /etc/passwd
47              password database file
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CONFORMING TO

50       SVr2.
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BUGS

53       The getpw() function is dangerous as it may overflow the provided  buf‐
54       fer buf.  It is obsoleted by getpwuid(3).
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COLOPHON

61       This page is part of release 3.22 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
62       description  of  the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
63       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
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67GNU                               2007-12-12                          GETPW(3)