getpwent(3C)                                         getpwent(3C)



     NAME
          getpwent, getpwuid, getpwnam, setpwent, endpwent, fgetpwent
          - get the password file entry

     SYNOPSIS
          #include <pwd.h>

          struct passwd *getpwent()

          struct passwd *getpwuid(uid)
          uid_t uid;

          struct passwd *getpwnam(name)
          char *name;

          void setpwent()

          void endpwent()

          struct passwd *fgetpwent(f)
          FILE *f;

     DESCRIPTION
          getpwent, getpwuid, and getpwnam return a pointer to an ob-
          ject with the following structure containing the broken-out
          fields of a line in the /etc/passwd file.  Each line in the
          file contains a passwd structure, declared in the <pwd.h>
          header file:

               struct passwd {
                    char *pw_name;
                    char *pw_passwd;
                    int  pw_uid;
                    int  pw_gid;
                    char *pw_age;
                    char *pw_comment;
                    char *pw_gecos;
                    char *pw_dir;
                    char *pw_shell;
               };

          Because this structure is declared in <pwd.h>, it is not
          necessary to redeclare it.

          The pw_comment field is unused; the others have meanings
          described in passwd(4).

          When first called, getpwent returns a pointer to the first
          passwd structure in the file.  Thereafter, it returns a
          pointer to the next passwd structure in the file; therefore,
          successive calls can be used to search the entire file.
          getpwuid searches from the beginning of the file until a



     April, 1990                                                     1

     getpwent(3C)                                         getpwent(3C)



          numeric user ID matching uid is found; it returns a pointer
          to the particular structure in which the match was found.
          getpwnam searches from the beginning of the file until a lo-
          gin name matching name is found; it returns a pointer to the
          particular structure in which the match was found.  If an
          end-of-file or an error is encountered on reading, these
          functions return a NULL pointer.

          A call to setpwent has the effect of rewinding the password
          file to allow repeated searches.  endpwent may be called to
          close the password file when processing is complete.

          fgetpwent returns a pointer to the next passwd structure in
          the stream f, which matches the format of /etc/passwd.

     RETURN VALUE
          If an end-of-file or an error is encountered, a NULL pointer
          is returned.

     FILES
          /etc/passwd

     SEE ALSO
          cuserid(3S), getlogin(3C), getgrent(3C),
          putpwent(3C), passwd(4).

     WARNINGS
          The routines use <stdio.h>.  Therefore the size of programs
          not otherwise using standard I/O is increased more than
          might be expected.

     BUGS
          All information is contained in a static area, so it must be
          copied if it is to be saved.





















     2                                                     April, 1990