NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     cuserid - get user name

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     #include <stdio.h>

     char *
     cuserid(char *buf);

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     This interface is available from the compatibility  library,
libcompat.

     The  cuserid() function returns a character string representation of the
     user name associated with the effective user ID of the calling process.

     If buf is not the NULL pointer, the user name is copied into
the memory
     referenced by buf.  The argument buf is assumed to point  to
an array at
     least  L_cuserid  (as defined in the include file <stdio.h>)
bytes long.
     Otherwise, the user name is copied to a static buffer.

RETURN VALUES    [Toc]    [Back]

     If buf is not the NULL pointer, buf is  returned;  otherwise
the address of
     the static buffer is returned.

     If  the user name could not be determined, if buf is not the
NULL pointer,
     the null character ` ' will be stored at *buf; otherwise the
NULL pointer
 is returned.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     getlogin(2), getpwent(3)

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  cuserid()  function  conforms  to  IEEE Std 1003.1-1988
(``POSIX'').

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Due to irreconcilable differences  in  historic  implementations, cuserid()
     was  removed from the IEEE Std 1003.1-1990 (``POSIX'') standard.  This implementation
 exists purely for compatibility  with  existing
programs.  New
     programs  should use one of the following three alternatives
to obtain the
     user name:

           1.   getlogin() to return the user's login name.
           2.   getpwuid(geteuid()) to return the user name associated with
                the calling process' effective user ID.
           3.    getpwuid(getuid()) to return the user name associated with the
                calling process' real user ID.

     The cuserid() function uses getpwuid(); thus the results  of
a user's call
     to  getpwent(), getpwnam() or getpwuid() will be overwritten
by subsequent
     calls to cuserid().

OpenBSD     3.6                        November     28,      1993