xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/if_indextoname.3 (revision 05a244b4077824dd8e83b71c4c2804000c3a08c7)
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32.\"     From: @(#)rcmd.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
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35.Dd May 21, 1998
36.Dt IF_NAMETOINDEX 3
37.Os KAME
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm if_nametoindex ,
40.Nm if_indextoname ,
41.Nm if_nameindex ,
42.Nm if_freenameindex
43.Nd convert interface index to name, and vice versa
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.Fd #include <net/if.h>
46.Ft "unsigned int"
47.Fn if_nametoindex "const char *ifname"
48.Ft "char *"
49.Fn if_indextoname "unsigned int ifindex" "char *ifname"
50.Ft "struct if_nameindex *"
51.Fn if_nameindex "void"
52.Ft "void"
53.Fn if_freenameindex "struct if_nameindex *ptr"
54.Sh DESCRIPTION
55The functions map interface index to readable interface name
56.Po
57such as
58.Li ``lo0''
59.Pc
60, and vice versa.
61.Pp
62.Fn if_nametoindex
63converts readable interface name to interface index
64.Pp positive integer value .
65If the specified interface does not exist, 0 will be returned.
66.Pp
67.Fn if_indextoname
68converts interface index to readable interface name.
69The
70.Fa ifname
71argument must point to a buffer of at least
72.Dv IF_NAMESIZE
73bytes into which the interface name corresponding to the specified index is
74returned.
75.Po
76.Dv IF_NAMESIZE
77is also defined in
78.Li <net/if.h>
79and its value includes a terminating null byte at the end of the
80interface name.
81.Pc
82This pointer is also the return value of the function.
83If there is no interface corresponding to the specified index,
84.Dv NULL
85is returned.
86.Pp
87.Fn if_nameindex
88returns an array of
89.Fa if_nameindex
90structures.
91.Fa if_nametoindex
92is also defined in
93.Li <net/if.h> ,
94and is as follows:
95.Bd -literal -offset
96struct if_nameindex {
97    unsigned int   if_index;  /* 1, 2, ... */
98    char          *if_name;   /* null terminated name: "le0", ... */
99};
100.Ed
101.Pp
102The end of the array of structures is indicated by a structure with
103an
104.Fa if_index
105of 0 and an
106.Fa if_name
107of
108.Dv NULL .
109The function returns a
110.Dv NULL
111pointer upon an error.
112The memory used for this array of structures along with the interface
113names pointed to by the
114.Fa if_name
115members is obtained dynamically.
116This memory is freed by the
117.Fn if_freenameindex
118function.
119.Pp
120.Fn if_freenameindex
121takes a pointer that was returned by
122.Fn if_nameindex
123as argument
124.Pq Fa ptr ,
125and it reclaims the region allocated.
126.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
127.Fn if_nametoindex
128returns 0 on error, positive integer on success.
129.Fn if_indextoname
130and
131.Fn if_nameindex
132return
133.Dv NULL
134on errors.
135.Sh SEE ALSO
136R. Gilligan, S.  Thomson, J. Bound, and W. Stevens,
137``Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6,'' RFC2553, March 1999.
138.Sh HISTORY
139The implementation first appeared in WIDE Hydrangea IPv6 protocol stack kit.
140.Sh STANDARDS
141These functions are defined in ``Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6''
142.Pq RFC2533 .
143