xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/net/if_indextoname.3 (revision 77a0943ded95b9e6438f7db70c4a28e4d93946d4)
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35.Dd May 21, 1998
36.Dt IF_NAMETOINDEX 3
37.Os
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 LIBRARY
45.Lb libc
46.Sh SYNOPSIS
47.Fd #include <sys/types.h>
48.Fd #include <sys/socket.h>
49.Fd #include <net/if.h>
50.Ft "unsigned int"
51.Fn if_nametoindex "const char *ifname"
52.Ft "char *"
53.Fn if_indextoname "unsigned int ifindex" "char *ifname"
54.Ft "struct if_nameindex *"
55.Fn if_nameindex "void"
56.Ft "void"
57.Fn if_freenameindex "struct if_nameindex *ptr"
58.Sh DESCRIPTION
59The functions map interface index to readable interface name
60.Po
61such as
62.Li ``lo0''
63.Pc
64, and vice versa.
65.Pp
66.Fn if_nametoindex
67converts readable interface name to interface index
68.Pp positive integer value .
69If the specified interface does not exist, 0 will be returned.
70.Pp
71.Fn if_indextoname
72converts interface index to readable interface name.
73The
74.Fa ifname
75argument must point to a buffer of at least
76.Dv IF_NAMESIZE
77bytes into which the interface name corresponding to the specified index is
78returned.
79.Po
80.Dv IF_NAMESIZE
81is also defined in
82.Li <net/if.h>
83and its value includes a terminating null byte at the end of the
84interface name.
85.Pc
86This pointer is also the return value of the function.
87If there is no interface corresponding to the specified index,
88.Dv NULL
89is returned.
90.Pp
91.Fn if_nameindex
92returns an array of
93.Fa if_nameindex
94structures.
95.Fa if_nametoindex
96is also defined in
97.Li <net/if.h> ,
98and is as follows:
99.Bd -literal -offset
100struct if_nameindex {
101    unsigned int   if_index;  /* 1, 2, ... */
102    char          *if_name;   /* null terminated name: "le0", ... */
103};
104.Ed
105.Pp
106The end of the array of structures is indicated by a structure with
107an
108.Fa if_index
109of 0 and an
110.Fa if_name
111of
112.Dv NULL .
113The function returns a
114.Dv NULL
115pointer upon an error.
116The memory used for this array of structures along with the interface
117names pointed to by the
118.Fa if_name
119members is obtained dynamically.
120This memory is freed by the
121.Fn if_freenameindex
122function.
123.Pp
124.Fn if_freenameindex
125takes a pointer that was returned by
126.Fn if_nameindex
127as argument
128.Pq Fa ptr ,
129and it reclaims the region allocated.
130.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
131.Fn if_nametoindex
132returns 0 on error, positive integer on success.
133.Fn if_indextoname
134and
135.Fn if_nameindex
136return
137.Dv NULL
138on errors.
139.Sh SEE ALSO
140R. Gilligan, S.  Thomson, J. Bound, and W. Stevens,
141``Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6,'' RFC2553, March 1999.
142.Sh HISTORY
143The implementation first appeared in WIDE Hydrangea IPv6 protocol stack kit.
144.Sh STANDARDS
145These functions are defined in ``Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6''
146.Pq RFC2533 .
147