xref: /openbsd-src/lib/libc/gen/pw_dup.3 (revision b2ea75c1b17e1a9a339660e7ed45cd24946b230e)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: pw_dup.3,v 1.2 2000/12/24 00:30:50 aaron Exp $
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3.\" Copyright (c) 2000 Todd C. Miller <Todd.Miller@courtesan.com>
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28.Dd November 15, 2000
29.Dt PW_DUP 3
30.Os
31.Sh NAME
32.Nm pw_dup
33.Nd make a copy of a struct passwd
34.Sh SYNOPSIS
35.Fd #include <pwd.h>
36.Ft struct passwd *
37.Fn pw_dup "cost struct passwd *pw"
38.Sh DESCRIPTION
39The
40.Fn pw_dup
41function allocates sufficient memory for a copy of the struct passwd
42.Fa pw ,
43does the copy, and returns a pointer to it.
44This is useful as subsequent calls to
45.Fn getpwent ,
46.Fn getpwnam ,
47and
48.Fn getpwuid
49will overwrite the data from previous calls.
50.Pp
51The returned pointer may be deallocated by a single call to
52.Xr free 3 .
53Since
54.Fn pw_dup
55allocates space for the copy in one chunk it is not necessary to free
56the individual strings contained in the returned struct passwd.
57.Pp
58If insufficient memory is available,
59.Dv NULL
60is returned.
61.Sh EXAMPLES
62The following will make a copy of the struct passwd for root and
63store it in
64.Qq pw_save :
65.Bd -literal -offset indent
66struct passwd *pw, *pw_save;
67
68if ((pw = getpwnam("root")) == NULL) {
69	fprintf(stderr, "Cannot find root in the password file.\en");
70	exit(1);
71}
72if ((pw_save = pw_dup(pw)) == NULL) {
73	fprintf(stderr, "Out of memory.\en");
74	exit(1);
75}
76.Ed
77.Sh ERRORS
78.Fn pw_dup
79function may fail and set the external variable
80.Va errno
81for any of the errors specified for the library function
82.Xr malloc 3 .
83.Sh SEE ALSO
84.Xr free 3 ,
85.Xr getpwent 3 ,
86.Xr malloc 3
87.Sh HISTORY
88The
89.Fn pw_dup
90function first appeared in
91.Ox 2.9 .
92