getpw (3)

NAME

       getpw - Re-construct password line entry

SYNOPSIS

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

       int getpw(uid_t uid, char *buf);

DESCRIPTION

       The  getpw()  function  re-constructs  the  password line entry for the
       given user uid 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

       SYSVr2.

BUGS

       The  getpw()  function  is  dangerous  as  it may overflow the provided
       buffer buf.  It is obsoleted by getpwuid().

SEE ALSO

       fgetpwent(3), getpwent(3), setpwent(3), endpwent(3), getpwnam(3), getp-
       wuid(3), putpwent(3), passwd(5)

GNU                               1996-05-27                          getpw(3)