xref: /openbsd/lib/libc/gen/confstr.3 (revision 404b540a)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: confstr.3,v 1.16 2007/05/31 19:19:28 jmc Exp $
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30.Dd $Mdocdate: May 31 2007 $
31.Dt CONFSTR 3
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm confstr
35.Nd get string-valued configurable variables
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37.Fd #include <unistd.h>
38.Ft size_t
39.Fn confstr "int name" "char *buf" "size_t len"
40.Sh DESCRIPTION
41.Bf -symbolic
42This interface is obsoleted by
43.Xr sysctl 3 .
44.Ef
45.Pp
46The
47.Fn confstr
48function provides a method for applications to get configuration
49defined string values.
50.Pp
51The
52.Fa name
53argument specifies the system variable to be queried.
54Symbolic constants for each name value are found in the include file
55.Aq Pa unistd.h .
56The
57.Fa len
58argument specifies the size of the buffer referenced by the
59argument
60.Fa buf .
61If
62.Fa len
63is non-zero,
64.Fa buf
65is a non-null pointer, and
66.Fa name
67has a value; up to
68.Fa len
69\- 1 bytes of the value are copied into the buffer
70.Fa buf .
71The copied value is always NUL terminated.
72.Pp
73The available values are as follows:
74.Bl -tag -width "123456"
75.It Li _CS_PATH
76Return a value for the
77.Ev PATH
78environment variable that finds all the standard utilities.
79.El
80.Sh RETURN VALUES
81If the call to
82.Nm
83is not successful, 0 is returned and
84.Va errno
85is set appropriately.
86Otherwise, if the variable does not have a configuration defined value,
870 is returned and
88.Va errno
89is not modified.
90Otherwise, the buffer size needed to hold the entire configuration-defined
91value is returned.
92If this size is greater than the argument
93.Fa len ,
94the string in
95.Fa buf
96was truncated.
97.Sh ERRORS
98The
99.Nm
100function may fail and set
101.Va errno
102for any of the errors specified for the library functions
103.Xr malloc 3
104and
105.Xr sysctl 3 .
106.Pp
107In addition, the following errors may be reported:
108.Bl -tag -width Er
109.It Bq Er EINVAL
110The value of the
111.Fa name
112argument is invalid.
113.El
114.Sh SEE ALSO
115.Xr sysctl 3
116.Sh STANDARDS
117The
118.Nm
119function conforms to
120.St -p1003.2-92 .
121.Sh HISTORY
122The
123.Nm
124function first appeared in
125.Bx 4.4 .
126