Return info about a user by username

# posix_getpwnam

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

posix_getpwnam — Return info about a user by username

### Description

posix_getpwnam(string `$username`): array|false

Returns an array of information about the given user.

### Parameters

`username`

  An alphanumeric username.

### Return Values

On success an array with the following elements is returned, else `false` is returned:

The user information array
Element | Description
--- | ---
name | The name element contains the username of the user. This is a short, usually less than 16 character "handle" of the user, not the 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.

### Examples

Example #1 Example use of posix_getpwnam()

`<?php
$userinfo = posix_getpwnam("tom");
print_r($userinfo);
?>`

The above example will output something similar to:

    Array
    (
        [name]    => tom
        [passwd]  => x
        [uid]     => 10000
        [gid]     => 42
        [gecos]   => "tom,,,"
        [dir]     => "/home/tom"
        [shell]   => "/bin/bash"
    )

### See Also

- posix_getpwuid() - Return info about a user by user id
- POSIX man page GETPWNAM(3)

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