bsd man page for getlogin

GETLOGIN(3)						     Library Functions Manual						       GETLOGIN(3)

NAME
       getlogin - get login name

SYNOPSIS
       char *getlogin()

DESCRIPTION
       Getlogin  returns a pointer to the login name as found in /var/run/utmp.  It may be used in conjunction with getpwnam to locate the correct
       password file entry when the same userid is shared by several login names.

       If getlogin is called within a process that is not attached to a terminal, or if there is no entry in /var/run/utmp for the process's  ter-
       minal,  getlogin  returns  a  NULL  pointer (0).  A reasonable procedure for determining the login name is to first call getlogin and if it
       fails, to call getpwuid(getuid()).

FILES
       /var/run/utmp

SEE ALSO
       getpwent(3), utmp(5), ttyslot(3)

DIAGNOSTICS
       Returns a NULL pointer (0) if name not found.

BUGS
       The return values point to static data whose content is overwritten by each call.

7th Edition							 November 27, 1996						       GETLOGIN(3)