.\"	$OpenBSD: pw_dup.3,v 1.3 2002/07/18 19:09:19 millert Exp $
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.\" Copyright (c) 2000 Todd C. Miller <Todd.Miller@courtesan.com>
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.Dd November 15, 2000
.Dt PW_DUP 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm pw_dup
.Nd make a copy of a struct passwd
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <pwd.h>
.Ft struct passwd *
.Fn pw_dup "const struct passwd *pw"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn pw_dup
function allocates sufficient memory for a copy of the struct passwd
.Fa pw ,
does the copy, and returns a pointer to it.
This is useful as subsequent calls to
.Fn getpwent ,
.Fn getpwnam ,
and
.Fn getpwuid
will overwrite the data from previous calls.
.Pp
The returned pointer may be deallocated by a single call to
.Xr free 3 .
Since
.Fn pw_dup
allocates space for the copy in one chunk it is not necessary to free
the individual strings contained in the returned struct passwd.
.Pp
If insufficient memory is available,
.Dv NULL
is returned.
.Sh EXAMPLES
The following will make a copy of the struct passwd for root and
store it in
.Qq pw_save :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct passwd *pw, *pw_save;

if ((pw = getpwnam("root")) == NULL) {
	fprintf(stderr, "Cannot find root in the password file.\en");
	exit(1);
}
if ((pw_save = pw_dup(pw)) == NULL) {
	fprintf(stderr, "Out of memory.\en");
	exit(1);
}
.Ed
.Sh ERRORS
.Fn pw_dup
function may fail and set the external variable
.Va errno
for any of the errors specified for the library function
.Xr malloc 3 .
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr free 3 ,
.Xr getpwent 3 ,
.Xr malloc 3
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Fn pw_dup
function first appeared in
.Ox 2.9 .