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PROLOG
This manual page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual. The Linux implementation of
this interface may differ (consult the corresponding Linux manual page for details of
Linux behavior), or the interface may not be implemented on Linux.
NAME
getgrnam, getgrnam_r — search group database for a name
SYNOPSIS
#include <grp.h>
struct group *getgrnam(const char *name);
int getgrnam_r(const char *name, struct group *grp, char *buffer,
size_t bufsize, struct group **result);
DESCRIPTION
The getgrnam() function shall search the group database for an entry with a matching name.
The getgrnam() function need not be thread-safe.
Applications wishing to check for error situations should set errno to 0 before calling
getgrnam(). If getgrnam() returns a null pointer and errno is set to non-zero, an error
occurred.
The getgrnam_r() function shall update the group structure pointed to by grp and store a
pointer to that structure at the location pointed to by result. The structure shall
contain an entry from the group database with a matching name. Storage referenced by the
group structure is allocated from the memory provided with the buffer parameter, which is
bufsize bytes in size. A call to sysconf(_SC_GETGR_R_SIZE_MAX) returns either -1 without
changing errno or an initial value suggested for the size of this buffer. A null pointer
is returned at the location pointed to by result on error or if the requested entry is not
found.
RETURN VALUE
The getgrnam() function shall return a pointer to a struct group with the structure
defined in <grp.h> with a matching entry if one is found. The getgrnam() function shall
return a null pointer if either the requested entry was not found, or an error occurred.
If the requested entry was not found, errno shall not be changed. On error, errno shall be
set to indicate the error.
The application shall not modify the structure to which the return value points, nor any
storage areas pointed to by pointers within the structure. The returned pointer, and
pointers within the structure, might be invalidated or the structure or the storage areas
might be overwritten by a subsequent call to getgrent(), getgrgid(), or getgrnam(). The
returned pointer, and pointers within the structure, might also be invalidated if the
calling thread is terminated.
The getgrnam_r() function shall return zero on success or if the requested entry was not
found and no error has occurred. If any error has occurred, an error number shall be
returned to indicate the error.
ERRORS
The getgrnam() and getgrnam_r() functions may fail if:
EIO An I/O error has occurred.
EINTR A signal was caught during getgrnam().
EMFILE All file descriptors available to the process are currently open.
ENFILE The maximum allowable number of files is currently open in the system.
The getgrnam_r() function may fail if:
ERANGE Insufficient storage was supplied via buffer and bufsize to contain the data to be
referenced by the resulting group structure.
The following sections are informative.
EXAMPLES
Note that sysconf(_SC_GETGR_R_SIZE_MAX) may return -1 if there is no hard limit on the
size of the buffer needed to store all the groups returned. This example shows how an
application can allocate a buffer of sufficient size to work with getgrnam_r().
long int initlen = sysconf(_SC_GETGR_R_SIZE_MAX);
size_t len;
if (initlen == -1)
/* Default initial length. */
len = 1024;
else
len = (size_t) initlen;
struct group result;
struct group *resultp;
char *buffer = malloc(len);
if (buffer == NULL)
...handle error...
int e;
while ((e = getgrnam_r("somegroup", &result, buffer, len, &resultp))
== ERANGE)
{
size_t newlen = 2 * len;
if (newlen < len)
...handle error...
len = newlen;
char *newbuffer = realloc(buffer, len);
if (newbuffer == NULL)
...handle error...
buffer = newbuffer;
}
if (e != 0)
...handle error...
free (buffer);
APPLICATION USAGE
The getgrnam_r() function is thread-safe and shall return values in a user-supplied buffer
instead of possibly using a static data area that may be overwritten by each call.
Portable applications should take into account that it is usual for an implementation to
return -1 from sysconf() indicating that there is no maximum for _SC_GETGR_R_SIZE_MAX.
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
endgrent(), getgrgid(), sysconf()
The Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2017, <grp.h>, <sys_types.h>
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std
1003.1-2017, Standard for Information Technology -- Portable Operating System Interface
(POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7, 2018 Edition, Copyright (C) 2018 by
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group
Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard is the referee document. The
original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .
Any typographical or formatting errors that appear in this page are most likely to have
been introduced during the conversion of the source files to man page format. To report
such errors, see https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .