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23.Dd Oct 19, 2004
24.Dt GETXATTR 2
25.Os "Mac OS X"
26.Sh NAME
27.Nm getxattr,
28.Nm fgetxattr
29.Nd get an extended attribute value
30.Sh SYNOPSIS
31.Fd #include <sys/xattr.h>
32.Ft ssize_t
33.Fn getxattr "const char *path" "const char *name" "void *value" "size_t size" "u_int32_t position" "int options"
34.Ft ssize_t
35.Fn fgetxattr "int fd" "const char *name" "void *value" "size_t size" "u_int32_t position" "int options"
36.Sh DESCRIPTION
37Extended attributes extend the basic attributes of files and
38directories in the file system. They are stored as name:data pairs
39associated with file system objects (files, directories, symlinks, etc).
40.Pp
41The
42.Fn getxattr
43function retrieves up to
44.Fa size
45bytes of data from the extended attribute identified by
46.Fa name
47associated with
48.Fa path
49into the pre-allocated buffer pointed to by
50.Fa value .
51The function returns the number of bytes of data retrieved.
52.Pp
53An extended attribute's
54.Fa name
55is a simple NULL-terminated UTF-8 string.
56.Fa position
57specifies an offset within the extended attribute. In the current
58implementation, this argument is only used with the resource fork attribute.
59For all other extended attributes, this parameter is reserved and should
60be zero.
61.Pp
62On success,
63.Fa value
64contains the data associated with
65.Fa name .
66When
67.Fa value
68is set to NULL,
69.Fn getxattr
70returns current size of the named attribute. This facility can be used
71to determine the size of a buffer sufficiently large to hold the data
72currently associated with the attribute.
73.Pp
74.Fa options
75specify options for retrieving extended attributes:
76.Pp
77.Bl -tag -width XATTR_NOFOLLOW
78.It Dv XATTR_NOFOLLOW
79do not follow symbolic links.
80.Fn getxattr
81normally returns information from the target of
82.Fa path
83if it is a symbolic link. With this option,
84.Fn getxattr
85will return extended attribute data from the symbolic link instead.
86.It Dv XATTR_SHOWCOMPRESSION
87.Fn getxattr
88and
89.Fn fgetxattr
90will return HFS Plus Compression extended attribute
91.Fa name
92(if present) for the file referred to by
93.Fa path
94or
95.Fa fd .
96.El
97.Pp
98.Fn fgetxattr
99is identical to
100.Fn getxattr ,
101except that it retrieves extended attribute data from the open file
102referenced by the file descriptor
103.Fa fd .
104.Sh RETURN VALUES
105On success, the size of the extended attribute data is returned. On
106failure, -1 is returned and the global variable
107.Va errno
108is set as follows.
109.Sh ERRORS
110.Bl -tag -width Er
111.It Bq Er ENOATTR
112The extended attribute does not exist.
113.It Bq Er ENOTSUP
114The file system does not support extended attributes or has the feature
115disabled.
116.It Bq Er ERANGE
117.Fa value
118(as indicated by
119.Fa size )
120is too small to hold the extended attribute data.
121.It Bq Er EPERM
122The named attribute is not permitted for this type of object.
123.It Bq Er EINVAL
124.Fa name
125is invalid or
126.Fa options
127has an unsupported bit set.
128.It Bq Er EISDIR
129.Fa path
130or
131.Fa fd
132do not refer to a regular file and the attribute in question is only
133applicable to files. Similar to EPERM.
134.It Bq Er ENOTDIR
135A component of
136.Fa path 's
137prefix is not a directory.
138.It Bq Er ENAMETOOLONG
139The length of
140.Fa name
141exceeds
142.Dv XATTR_MAXNAMELEN
143UTF-8 bytes, or a component of
144.Fa path
145exceeds
146.Dv NAME_MAX
147characters, or the entire
148.Fa path
149exceeds
150.Dv PATH_MAX
151characters.
152.It Bq Er EACCES
153Search permission is denied for a component of
154.Fa path
155or the attribute is not allowed to be read (e.g. an ACL prohibits reading
156the attributes of this file).
157.It Bq Er ELOOP
158Too many symbolic links were encountered in translating the pathname.
159.It Bq Er EFAULT
160.Fa path
161or
162.Fa name
163points to an invalid address.
164.It Bq Er EIO
165An I/O error occurred while reading from or writing to the file system.
166.El
167.Sh SEE ALSO
168.Xr listxattr 2 ,
169.Xr removexattr 2 ,
170.Xr setxattr 2
171.Sh HISTORY
172.Fn getxattr
173and
174.Fn fgetxattr
175first appeared in Mac OS X 10.4.