'\" t .\" Copyright 1993 David Metcalfe (david@prism.demon.co.uk) .\" .\" SPDX-License-Identifier: Linux-man-pages-copyleft .\" .\" References consulted: .\" Linux libc source code .\" Lewine's _POSIX Programmer's Guide_ (O'Reilly & Associates, 1991) .\" 386BSD man pages .\" Modified Sat Jul 24 19:29:54 1993 by Rik Faith (faith@cs.unc.edu) .TH getgrent 3 2024-05-02 "Linux man-pages 6.9.1" .SH NAME getgrent, setgrent, endgrent \- get group file entry .SH LIBRARY Standard C library .RI ( libc ", " \-lc ) .SH SYNOPSIS .nf .B #include .B #include .P .B struct group *getgrent(void); .P .B void setgrent(void); .B void endgrent(void); .fi .P .RS -4 Feature Test Macro Requirements for glibc (see .BR feature_test_macros (7)): .RE .P .BR setgrent (): .nf _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 .\" || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED || /* glibc >= 2.19: */ _DEFAULT_SOURCE || /* glibc <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE .fi .P .BR getgrent (), .BR endgrent (): .nf Since glibc 2.22: _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 || _DEFAULT_SOURCE .\" || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED glibc 2.21 and earlier _XOPEN_SOURCE >= 500 .\" || _XOPEN_SOURCE && _XOPEN_SOURCE_EXTENDED || /* Since glibc 2.12: */ _POSIX_C_SOURCE >= 200809L || /* glibc <= 2.19: */ _BSD_SOURCE || _SVID_SOURCE .fi .SH DESCRIPTION The .BR 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 .IR /etc/group , NIS, and LDAP). The first time .BR getgrent () is called, it returns the first entry; thereafter, it returns successive entries. .P The .BR setgrent () function rewinds to the beginning of the group database, to allow repeated scans. .P The .BR endgrent () function is used to close the group database after all processing has been performed. .P The \fIgroup\fP structure is defined in \fI\fP as follows: .P .in +4n .EX struct group { char *gr_name; /* group name */ char *gr_passwd; /* group password */ gid_t gr_gid; /* group ID */ char **gr_mem; /* NULL\-terminated array of pointers to names of group members */ }; .EE .in .P For more information about the fields of this structure, see .BR group (5). .SH RETURN VALUE The .BR getgrent () function returns a pointer to a .I group structure, or NULL if there are no more entries or an error occurs. .P Upon error, .I errno may be set. If one wants to check .I errno after the call, it should be set to zero before the call. .P The return value may point to a static area, and may be overwritten by subsequent calls to .BR getgrent (), .BR getgrgid (3), or .BR getgrnam (3). (Do not pass the returned pointer to .BR free (3).) .SH ERRORS .TP .B EAGAIN The service was temporarily unavailable; try again later. For NSS backends in glibc this indicates a temporary error talking to the backend. The error may correct itself, retrying later is suggested. .TP .B EINTR A signal was caught; see .BR signal (7). .TP .B EIO I/O error. .TP .B EMFILE The per-process limit on the number of open file descriptors has been reached. .TP .B ENFILE The system-wide limit on the total number of open files has been reached. .TP .\" not in POSIX .B ENOENT A necessary input file cannot be found. For NSS backends in glibc this indicates the backend is not correctly configured. .TP .B ENOMEM .\" not in POSIX Insufficient memory to allocate .I group structure. .TP .B ERANGE Insufficient buffer space supplied. .SH FILES .TP .I /etc/group local group database file .SH ATTRIBUTES For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see .BR attributes (7). .TS allbox; lb lb lbx l l l. Interface Attribute Value T{ .na .nh .BR getgrent () T} Thread safety T{ .na .nh MT-Unsafe race:grent race:grentbuf locale T} T{ .na .nh .BR setgrent (), .BR endgrent () T} Thread safety T{ .na .nh MT-Unsafe race:grent locale T} .TE .P In the above table, .I grent in .I race:grent signifies that if any of the functions .BR setgrent (), .BR getgrent (), or .BR endgrent () are used in parallel in different threads of a program, then data races could occur. .SH STANDARDS POSIX.1-2008. .SH HISTORY POSIX.1-2001, SVr4, 4.3BSD. .SH SEE ALSO .BR fgetgrent (3), .BR getgrent_r (3), .BR getgrgid (3), .BR getgrnam (3), .BR getgrouplist (3), .BR putgrent (3), .BR group (5)