NAME

getlogin − get login name

SYNOPSIS

char ∗getlogin()

DESCRIPTION

Getlogin returns a pointer to the login name as found in /etc/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 /etc/utmp for the process’s terminal, 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

/etc/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  —  May 9, 1986