qgetpwent.3

NAME

qgetpwent, qsetpwent, qendpwent - get password file entry

SYNOPSIS

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <qgetpwgr.h>

struct passwd *qgetpwent(void);

void qsetpwent(void);

void qendpwent(void);

DESCRIPTION

The qgetpwent() function returns a pointer to a structure containing the broken-out fields of a record from the password database (e.g., the local password file /etc/passwd, ). The first time qgetpwent() is called, it returns the first entry; thereafter, it returns successive entries.

The qsetpwent() function rewinds to the beginning of the password database.

The qendpwent() function is used to close the password database after all processing has been performed.

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 qgetpwent() function returns a pointer to a passwd structure, or NULL if there are no more entries or an error occurred. If an error occurs, errno is set appropriately. If one wants to check errno after the call, it should be set to zero before the call.

The return value may point to a static area, and may be overwritten by subsequent calls to qgetpwent(), qgetpwnam(3), or qgetpwuid(3). (Do not pass the returned pointer to free(3).)

ERRORS

EINTR
A signal was caught; see signal(7).

ENOMEM
Insufficient memory to allocate passwd structure.

ERANGE
Insufficient buffer space supplied.

ETXTBUSY
Temporary error happened.

FILES

/etc/passwd
local password database file

SEE ALSO

qgetpwent_r(3), qgetpwnam(3), qgetpwuid(3), passwd(5)