NAME

       getxattr, lgetxattr, fgetxattr - retrieve an extended attribute value

SYNOPSIS

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

       ssize_t getxattr(const char *path, const char *name,
                        void *value, size_t size);
       ssize_t lgetxattr(const char *path, const char *name,
                        void *value, size_t size);
       ssize_t fgetxattr(int fd, const char *name,
                        void *value, size_t size);

DESCRIPTION

       Extended  attributes  are  name:value  pairs  associated  with inodes (files, directories,
       symbolic links, etc.).  They are extensions to the normal attributes which are  associated
       with  all  inodes in the system (i.e., the stat(2) data).  A complete overview of extended
       attributes concepts can be found in xattr(7).

       getxattr() retrieves the value of the extended attribute identified by name and associated
       with  the  given  path  in  the  filesystem.   The attribute value is placed in the buffer
       pointed to by value; size specifies the size of that buffer.  The return value of the call
       is the number of bytes placed in value.

       lgetxattr()  is  identical to getxattr(), except in the case of a symbolic link, where the
       link itself is interrogated, not the file that it refers to.

       fgetxattr() is identical to getxattr(), only the open file referred to by fd (as  returned
       by open(2)) is interrogated in place of path.

       An  extended  attribute  name  is a null-terminated string.  The name includes a namespace
       prefix; there may be several, disjoint namespaces associated  with  an  individual  inode.
       The value of an extended attribute is a chunk of arbitrary textual or binary data that was
       assigned using setxattr(2).

       If size is specified as zero, these calls return the current size of  the  named  extended
       attribute  (and  leave  value  unchanged).   This can be used to determine the size of the
       buffer that should be supplied in a subsequent call.  (But, bear in mind that there  is  a
       possibility that the attribute value may change between the two calls, so that it is still
       necessary to check the return status from the second call.)

RETURN VALUE

       On success, these calls return a nonnegative value which is the size  (in  bytes)  of  the
       extended attribute value.  On failure, -1 is returned and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

       E2BIG  The  size  of  the  attribute  value  is  larger than the maximum size allowed; the
              attribute cannot be retrieved.  This can happen on filesystems  that  support  very
              large attribute values such as NFSv4, for example.

       ENODATA
              The named attribute does not exist, or the process has no access to this attribute.

       ENOTSUP
              Extended attributes are not supported by the filesystem, or are disabled.

       ERANGE The size of the value buffer is too small to hold the result.

       In addition, the errors documented in stat(2) can also occur.

VERSIONS

       These  system  calls  have  been  available  on  Linux  since kernel 2.4; glibc support is
       provided since version 2.3.

CONFORMING TO

       These system calls are Linux-specific.

EXAMPLE

       See listxattr(2).

SEE ALSO

       getfattr(1), setfattr(1), listxattr(2),  open(2),  removexattr(2),  setxattr(2),  stat(2),
       symlink(7), xattr(7)

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 5.05 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of  this  page,  can  be
       found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.