getpwent

GETPWENT(3)                Linux Programmer's Manual               GETPWENT(3)



NAME
       getpwent, setpwent, endpwent - get password file entry

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <pwd.h>

       struct passwd *getpwent(void);

       void setpwent(void);

       void endpwent(void);

DESCRIPTION
       The  getpwent()  function  returns  a pointer to a structure containing
       broken out fields of a line from /etc/passwd.  The  first  time  it  is
       called  it  returns  the first entry; thereafter, it returns successive
       entries.

       The setpwent() function rewinds the file pointer to  the  beginning  of
       the /etc/passwd file.

       The endpwent() function closes the /etc/passwd file.

       The passwd structure is defined in <pwd.h> as follows:

              struct passwd {
                    char    *pw_name;      /* user name */
                    char    *pw_passwd;    /* user password */
                    uid_t   pw_uid;        /* user id */
                    gid_t   pw_gid;        /* group id */
                    char    *pw_gecos;     /* real name */
                    char    *pw_dir;       /* home directory */
                    char    *pw_shell;     /* shell program */
              };

       When  shadow(5)  passwords  are  enabled  (which  is  default  on  many
       GNU/Linux installations) the content of pw_passwd is usually  not  very
       useful.  In such a case most passwords are stored in a separate file.

       The  variable pw_shell may be empty, in which case the system will exe-
       cute the default shell (/bin/sh) for the user.

RETURN VALUE
       The getpwent() function returns the passwd structure, or NULL if  there
       are no more entries or an error occured.

ERRORS
       ENOMEM Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.

FILES
       /etc/passwd
              password database file

CONFORMING TO
       SVID 3, BSD 4.3

SEE ALSO
       fgetpwent(3),  getpwent_r(3), getpwnam(3), getpwuid(3), getpw(3), putp-
       went(3), shadow(5), passwd(5)



GNU                               1996-05-27                       GETPWENT(3)