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Communications Technical Reference, Volume 2

getprotoent Subroutine

Purpose

Gets protocol entry from the /etc/protocols file.

Library

Standard C Library (libc.a)

Syntax

#include <netdb.h>
struct protoent *getprotoent ( )

Description

Attention: Do not use the getprotoent subroutine in a multithreaded environment.

The getprotoent subroutine retrieves protocol information from the /etc/protocols file. An application program can use the getprotoent subroutine to access a protocol name, its aliases, and protocol number.

The getprotoent subroutine opens and performs a sequential read of the /etc/protocols file. The getprotoent subroutine returns a pointer to a protoent structure, which contains the fields for a line of information in the /etc/protocols file. The netdb.h file defines the protoent structure.

Use the endprotoent subroutine to close the /etc/protocols file.

Return Values

Upon successful completion, the getprotoent subroutine returns a pointer to a protoent structure.

Note: The return value points to static data that is overwritten by subsequent calls.

If an error occurs or the end of the file is reached, the getprotoent subroutine returns a null pointer.

Implementation Specifics

The getprotoent subroutine is part of Base Operating System (BOS) Runtime.

All applications containing the getprotoent subroutine must be compiled with _BSD set to a specific value. Acceptable values are 43 and 44. In addition, all socket applications must include the BSD libbsd.a library.

Files

/etc/protocols
                          Contains protocol information.

Related Information

The endprotoent subroutine, getprotobyname subroutine, getprotobynumber subroutine, setprotoent subroutine.

Sockets Overview in AIX Version 4.3 Communications Programming Concepts.


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