NAME

       getgrent, setgrent, endgrent - get group file entry

SYNOPSIS

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

       struct group *getgrent(void);

       void setgrent(void);

       void endgrent(void);

   Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see feature_test_macros(7)):

       setgrent():
           _SVID_SOURCE || _BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED ||
           /* Since glibc 2.12: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L

       getgrent(), endgrent():
           _SVID_SOURCE || _BSD_SOURCE || _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED

DESCRIPTION

       The  getgrent() function returns a pointer to a structure containing the broken-out fields of a record in
       the group database (e.g., the local group file /etc/group, NIS, and LDAP).  The first time getgrent()  is
       called, it returns the first entry; thereafter, it returns successive entries.

       The setgrent() function rewinds to the beginning of the group database, to allow repeated scans.

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

       The group structure is defined in <grp.h> as follows:

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

       For more information about the fields of this structure, see group(5).

RETURN VALUE

       The  getgrent()  function returns a pointer to a group structure, or NULL if there are no more entries or
       an error occurs.

       Upon error, errno may be set.  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 getgrent(),
       getgrgid(3), or getgrnam(3).  (Do not pass the returned pointer to free(3).)

ERRORS

       EINTR  A signal was caught.

       EIO    I/O error.

       EMFILE The calling process already has too many open files.

       ENFILE Too many open files in the system.

       ENOMEM Insufficient memory to allocate group structure.

       ERANGE Insufficient buffer space supplied.

FILES

       /etc/group
              local group database file

ATTRIBUTES

   Multithreading (see pthreads(7))
       The getgrent() function is not thread-safe.

       The setgrent() and endgrent() functions are thread-safe.

CONFORMING TO

       SVr4, 4.3BSD, POSIX.1-2001.

SEE ALSO

       fgetgrent(3), getgrent_r(3), getgrgid(3), getgrnam(3), getgrouplist(3), putgrent(3), group(5)

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 3.54 of the Linux man-pages project.  A  description  of  the  project,  and
       information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

                                                   2013-06-21                                        GETGRENT(3)