getlogin

Purpose

     Gets the user's login name.

Library

     Standard C Library (libc.a)

Syntax

     char *getlogin ( )

Description

     The getlogin  subroutine returns  a pointer to  the login
     name as found in  /etc/utmp.  Use the getlogin subroutine
     in conjunction with the getpwnam subroutine to locate the
     correct  password file  entry when  the same  user ID  is
     shared by several login names.

     If  the getlogin  subroutine is  called within  a process
     that is  not attached  to a terminal,  it returns  a NULL
     pointer.  The correct procedure for determining the login
     name is  to call cuserid, or  to call getlogin and  if it
     fails, then to call getpwuid.

     If the login  name is not found, getlogin  returns a NULL
     pointer.

     Warning:  The getlogin subroutine  returns a pointer to a
     static area that is overwritten by successive calls.

File

     /etc/utmp

Related Information

     In this book:   "cuserid," "getgrent, getgrgid, getgrnam,
     setgrent,   endgrent,"  "getpwent,   getpwuid,  getpwnam,
     setpwent, endpwent," and "utmp, wtmp, .ilog."