GETPW(3) Linux Programmer's Manual GETPW(3)NAMEgetpw - reconstruct password line entry
SYNOPSIS
#define _GNU_SOURCE /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <pwd.h>
int getpw(uid_t uid, char *buf);
DESCRIPTION
The getpw() function reconstructs the password line entry for the given
user ID uid in the buffer buf. The returned buffer contains a line of
format
name:passwd:uid:gid:gecos:dir:shell
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; /* user information */
char *pw_dir; /* home directory */
char *pw_shell; /* shell program */
};
For more information about the fields of this structure, see passwd(5).
RETURN VALUE
The getpw() function returns 0 on success; on error, it returns -1, and
errno is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
EINVAL buf is NULL.
ENOENT No user corresponding to uid.
ENOMEM Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.
FILES
/etc/passwd
password database file
CONFORMING TO
SVr2.
BUGS
The getpw() function is dangerous as it may overflow the provided buf‐
fer buf. It is obsoleted by getpwuid(3).
SEE ALSOendpwent(3), fgetpwent(3), getpwent(3), getpwnam(3), getpwuid(3), putp‐
went(3), setpwent(3), passwd(5)COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.58 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 2010-10-21 GETPW(3)
