GETPWNAM(3) Linux Programmer's Manual GETPWNAM(3)
NAME
getpwnam, getpwuid - get password file entry
SYNOPSIS
#include <pwd.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
struct passwd *getpwnam(const char *name);
struct passwd *getpwuid(uid_t uid);
DESCRIPTION
The getpwnam() function returns a pointer to a structure containing the broken out fields of a line from /etc/passwd for the entry that
matches the user name name.
The getpwuid() function returns a pointer to a structure containing the broken out fields of a line from /etc/passwd for the entry that
matches the user uid uid.
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 */
};
RETURN VALUE
The getpwnam() and getpwuid() functions return a pointer to the passwd structure, or NULL if the matching entry is not found or an error
occurs.
ERRORS
ENOMEM Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.
FILES
/etc/passwd
password database file
CONFORMING TO
SVID 3, POSIX, BSD 4.3
SEE ALSO
fgetpwent(3), getgrnam(3), getpwent(3), setpwent(3), endpwent(3), getpw(3), putpwent(3), passwd(5)
GNU
1996-05-27 GETPWNAM(3)
