---
name: "acl_get_qualifier"
section: "3"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/acl_get_qualifier"
---

# acl\_get\_qualifier(3)

retrieve the qualifier from an ACL entry

## NAME

**acl\_get\_qualifier** – retrieve the qualifier from an ACL entry

## LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<sys/types.h\>**

**#include \<sys/acl.h\>**

*void* *\**\

**acl\_get\_qualifier**(*acl\_entry\_t entry\_d*);

## DESCRIPTION

The **acl\_get\_qualifier**() function is a POSIX.1e call that retrieves the qualifier of the tag for the ACL entry indicated by the argument *entry\_d* into working storage and returns a pointer to that storage.

If the value of the tag type in the ACL entry referred to by *entry\_d* is ACL\_USER, then the value returned by **acl\_get\_qualifier**() will be a pointer to type *uid\_t*.

If the value of the tag type in the ACL entry referred to by *entry\_d* is ACL\_GROUP, then the value returned by **acl\_get\_qualifier**() will be a pointer to type *gid\_t*.

If the value of the tag type in the ACL entry referred to by *entry\_d* is ACL\_UNDEFINED\_TAG, ACL\_USER\_OBJ, ACL\_GROUP\_OBJ, ACL\_OTHER, ACL\_MASK, or an implementation-defined value for which a qualifier is not supported, then **acl\_get\_qualifier**() will return a value of (*void* *\**)NULL and the function will fail.

This function may cause memory to be allocated. The caller should free any releasable memory, when the new qualifier is no longer required, by calling **acl\_free**() with *void* *\** as the argument.

## RETURN VALUES

The **acl\_get\_qualifier**() function returns a pointer to the allocated storage if successful; otherwise a NULL pointer is returned and the global variable *errno* is set to indicate the error.

## ERRORS

The **acl\_get\_qualifier**() fails if:

- \[EINVAL\]

  Argument *entry\_d* does not point to a valid descriptor for an ACL entry. The value of the tag type in the ACL entry referenced by argument *entry\_d* is not ACL\_USER or ACL\_GROUP.

- \[ENOMEM\]

  The value to be returned requires more memory than is allowed by the hardware or system-imposed memory management constraints.

## SEE ALSO

[acl(3)](/acl/3.md), [acl\_create\_entry(3)](/acl_create_entry/3.md), [acl\_free(3)](/acl_free/3.md), [acl\_get\_entry(3)](/acl_get_entry/3.md), [acl\_get\_tag\_type(3)](/acl_get_tag_type/3.md), [acl\_set\_qualifier(3)](/acl_set_qualifier/3.md), [acl\_set\_tag\_type(3)](/acl_set_tag_type/3.md), [posix1e(3)](/posix1e/3.md)

## STANDARDS

POSIX.1e is described in IEEE POSIX.1e draft 17.

## HISTORY

POSIX.1e support was introduced in FreeBSD 4.0. The **acl\_get\_qualifier**() function was added in FreeBSD 5.0.

## AUTHORS

The **acl\_get\_qualifier**() function was written by Chris D. Faulhaber ⟨*jedgar@fxp.org*⟩.