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getgrent(3)

NAME

     getgrent, getgrent_r, getgrnam, getgrnam_r, getgrgid, getgrgid_r,
     setgroupent, setgrent, endgrent -- group database operations

LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS

     #include <grp.h>

     struct group *
     getgrent(void);

     int
     getgrent_r(struct group *grp, char *buffer, size_t bufsize,
	 struct group **result);

     struct group *
     getgrnam(const char *name);

     int
     getgrnam_r(const char *name, struct group *grp, char *buffer,
	 size_t bufsize, struct group **result);

     struct group *
     getgrgid(gid_t gid);

     int
     getgrgid_r(gid_t gid, struct group *grp, char *buffer, size_t bufsize,
	 struct group **result);

     int
     setgroupent(int stayopen);

     int
     setgrent(void);

     void
     endgrent(void);

DESCRIPTION

     These functions operate on the group database file /etc/group which is
     described in group(5).  Each line of the database is defined by the
     structure group found in the include file <grp.h>:

	   struct group {
		   char    *gr_name;	   /* group name */
		   char    *gr_passwd;	   /* group password */
		   gid_t   gr_gid;	   /* group id */
		   char    **gr_mem;	   /* group members */
	   };

     The functions getgrnam() and getgrgid() search the group database for the
     given group name pointed to by name or the group id pointed to by gid,
     respectively, returning the first one encountered.  Identical group names
     or group gids may result in undefined behavior.

     ful, the grp argument will be filled-in, and a pointer to that argument
     will be stored in result.	If an entry is not found or an error occurs,
     result will be set to NULL.

     These functions will open the group file for reading, if necessary.

     The setgroupent() function opens the file, or rewinds it if it is already
     open.  If stayopen is non-zero, file descriptors are left open, signifi-
     cantly speeding functions subsequent calls.  This functionality is unnec-
     essary for getgrent() as it doesn't close its file descriptors by
     default.  It should also be noted that it is dangerous for long-running
     programs to use this functionality as the group file may be updated.

     The setgrent() function is identical to setgroupent() with an argument of
     zero.

     The endgrent() function closes any open files.

RETURN VALUES

     The functions getgrent(), getgrnam(), and getgrgid(), return a pointer to
     a group structure on success or NULL if the entry is not found or if an
     error occurs.  If an error does occur, errno will be set.	Note that pro-
     grams must explicitly set errno to zero before calling any of these func-
     tions if they need to distinguish between a non-existent entry and an
     error.  The functions getgrent_r(), getgrnam_r(), and getgrgid_r() return
     0 if no error occurred, or an error number to indicate failure.  It is
     not an error if a matching entry is not found.  (Thus, if result is set
     to NULL and the return value is 0, no matching entry exists.)

     The functions setgroupent() and setgrent() return the value 1 if success-
     ful, otherwise the value 0 is returned.  The functions endgrent() and
     setgrfile() have no return value.

FILES

     /etc/group  group database file

SEE ALSO

     getpwent(3), group(5), nsswitch.conf(5), yp(8)

HISTORY

     The functions endgrent(), getgrent(), getgrnam(), getgrgid(), and
     setgrent() appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.  The functions setgrfile()
     and setgroupent() appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.  The functions getgrent_r(),
     getgrnam_r(), and getgrgid_r() appeared in FreeBSD 5.1.

STANDARDS

     The getgrent(), getgrnam(), getgrnam_r(), getgrgid(), getgrgid_r() and
     endgrent() functions conform to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 (``POSIX.1'').  The
     setgrent() function differs from that standard in that its return type is
     int rather than void.

COMPATIBILITY

     The historic function setgrfile(), which allowed the specification of
     alternate password databases, has been deprecated and is no longer avail-
     able.

BUGS

     The functions getgrent(), getgrnam(), getgrgid(), setgroupent() and
     fied in nsswitch.conf(5).

FreeBSD 5.4			April 16, 2003			   FreeBSD 5.4

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