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);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       getpwent(), setpwent(), endpwent(): _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE > = 500

DESCRIPTION

       The getpwent() function returns a pointer to a structure containing the broken-out fields of a record from the password database (e.g., the
       local password file /etc/passwd, NIS, and LDAP).  The first time it is called it returns the first entry; thereafter, it returns successive
       entries.

       The setpwent() function rewinds to the beginning of the password database.

       The endpwent() function is used to close the password database after all processing has been performed.

       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;      /* real name */
	       char   *pw_dir;	      /* home directory */
	       char   *pw_shell;      /* shell program */
	   };

RETURN VALUE

       The  getpwent()	function  returns  a  pointer to a passwd structure, or NULL if there are no more entries or an error occurs.  If an error
       occurs, errno is set appropriately.  If one wants to check errno after the call, it should be set to zero before the call.

       The return value may point to a static area, and may be overwritten by subsequent calls to getpwent(), getpwnam(3),  or	getpwuid(3).   (Do
       not pass the returned pointer to free(3).)

ERRORS

       EINTR  A signal was caught.

       EIO    I/O error.

       EMFILE The maximum number (OPEN_MAX) of files was open already in the calling process.

       ENFILE The maximum number of files was open already in the system.

       ENOMEM Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.

       ERANGE Insufficient buffer space supplied.

FILES

       /etc/passwd
	      local password database file

CONFORMING TO

       SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001.

SEE ALSO

       fgetpwent(3), getpw(3), getpwent_r(3), getpwnam(3), getpwuid(3), putpwent(3), passwd(5)

COLOPHON

       This  page is part of release 3.25 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

GNU
								    2009-03-30							       GETPWENT(3)