name |
The name element
contains the username of the user. This is a short,
usually less than 16 character "handle" of the user,
not her 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. |