getpw(3) - Linux man page

Name

getpw - Re-construct password line entry

Synopsis

#include <sys/types.h>#include <pwd.h>
int getpw(uid_t uid, char *buf);

Description

The getpw() function re-constructs 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;        /* user name */
        char    *pw_passwd;        /* user password */
        uid_t   pw_uid;            /* user ID */
        gid_t   pw_gid;            /* group ID */
        char    *pw_gecos;          /* real name */
        char    *pw_dir;          /* home directory */
        char    *pw_shell;          /* shell program */
};

Return Value The getpw() function returns 0 on success, or -1 if an error occurs.

Errors

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 buffer buf. It is obsoleted by getpwuid().

See Also

endpwent(3), fgetpwent(3), getpwent(3), getpwnam(3), getpwuid(3), putpwent(3), setpwent(3), passwd(5)

Referenced By

fgetpwent_r(3)