posix_getpwnam Return info about a user by username &reftitle.description; arrayposix_getpwnam stringusername Returns an array of information about the given user. &reftitle.parameters; username An alphanumeric username. &reftitle.returnvalues; On success an array with the following elements is returned, else &false; is returned: Element Description name The name element contains the username of the user. This is a short, usually less than 16 character "handle" of the user, not the real, full name. This should be the same as the username parameter used when calling the function, and hence redundant. passwd The passwd element contains the user's password in an encrypted format. Often, for example on a system employing "shadow" passwords, an asterisk is returned instead. uid User ID of the user in numeric form. gid The group ID of the user. Use the function posix_getgrgid to resolve the group name and a list of its members. gecos GECOS is an obsolete term that refers to the finger information field on a Honeywell batch processing system. The field, however, lives on, and its contents have been formalized by POSIX. The field contains a comma separated list containing the user's full name, office phone, office number, and home phone number. On most systems, only the user's full name is available. dir This element contains the absolute path to the home directory of the user. shell The shell element contains the absolute path to the executable of the user's default shell. &reftitle.examples; ]]> &example.outputs.similar; tom [passwd] => x [uid] => 10000 [gid] => 42 [geocs] => "tom,,," [dir] => "/home/tom" [shell] => "/bin/bash" ) ]]> &reftitle.seealso; posix_getpwuid POSIX man page GETPWNAM(3)