---
name: "acl_to_any_text"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "acl"
version: "2.4.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/acl_to_any_text"
---

# acl\_to\_any\_text(3)

convert an ACL to text

## NAME

**acl\_to\_any\_text** – convert an ACL to text

## LIBRARY

Linux Access Control Lists library (libacl, -lacl).

## SYNOPSIS

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

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

*char* *\**\

**acl\_to\_any\_text**(*acl\_t acl*, *const char \*prefix*, *char separator*, *int options*);

## DESCRIPTION

The **acl\_to\_any\_text**() function translates the ACL pointed to by the argument *acl* into a NULL terminated character string. This character string is composed of the ACL entries contained in *acl*, in the entry text format described on [acl(5)](/acl/5.md). Entries are separated from each other by the *separator* character. If the argument *prefix* is not (const char \*)NULL, each entry is prefixed by this character string.

If the argument *options* is 0, ACL entries are converted using the entry tag type keywords user, group, mask, and other. User IDs and group IDs of ACL entries that contain such qualifiers are converted to their corresponding names; if an identifier has no corresponding name, a decimal number string is produced. The ACL text representation contains no additional comments. A bitwise combinations of the following *options* can be used to modify the result:

- TEXT\_ABBREVIATE

  Instead of the full tag type keywords, single letter abbreviations are used. The abbreviation for user is u, the abbreviation for group is g, the abbreviation for mask is m, and the abbreviation for other is o.

- TEXT\_NUMERIC\_IDS

  User IDs and group IDs are included as decimal numbers instead of names.

- TEXT\_SOME\_EFFECTIVE

  A comment containing the effective permissions of the ACL entry is included after ACL entries that contain permissions which are ineffective because they are masked by an ACL\_MASK entry. The ACL entry and the comment are separated by a tab character.

- TEXT\_ALL\_EFFECTIVE

  A comment containing the effective permissions of the ACL entry is included after all ACL entries that are affected by an ACL\_MASK entry. The comment is included even if the permissions contained in the ACL entry equal the effective permissions. The ACL entry and the comment are separated by a tab character.

- TEXT\_SMART\_INDENT

  This option is used in combination with the TEXT\_SOME\_EFFECTIVE or TEXT\_ALL\_EFFECTIVE option. The number of tab characters inserted between the ACL entry and the comment is increased so that the comment is aligned to the fourth tab stop position. A tab width of 8 characters is assumed.

The ACL referred to by *acl* is not changed.

This function allocates any memory necessary to contain the string and returns a pointer to the string.  The caller should free any releasable memory, when the new string is no longer required, by calling **acl\_free**() with the *(void\*)char* returned by **acl\_to\_any\_text**() as an argument.

## RETURN VALUE

On success, this function returns a pointer to the text representation of the ACL.  On error, a value of (char \*)NULL is returned, and *errno* is set appropriately.

## ERRORS

If any of the following conditions occur, the **acl\_to\_any\_text**() function returns a value of (char \*)NULL and sets *errno* to the corresponding value:

- \[EINVAL\]

  The argument *acl* is not a valid pointer to an ACL.

  The ACL referenced by *acl* contains one or more improperly formed ACL entries, or for some other reason cannot be translated into the text form of an ACL.

- \[ENOMEM\]

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

## STANDARDS

This is a non-portable, Linux specific extension to the ACL manipulation functions defined in IEEE Std 1003.1e draft 17 (“POSIX.1e”, abandoned).

## SEE ALSO

[acl\_from\_text(3)](/acl_from_text/3.md), [acl\_to\_text(3)](/acl_to_text/3.md), [acl\_free(3)](/acl_free/3.md), [acl(5)](/acl/5.md)

## AUTHOR

Written by Andreas Gruenbacher ⟨andreas.gruenbacher@gmail.com⟩.