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

# acl\_to\_text\_np(3)

convert an ACL to text

Part of [acl\_to\_text(3)](/acl_to_text/3.md).

## NAME

**acl\_to\_text**, **acl\_to\_text\_np** – convert an ACL to text

## LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

## SYNOPSIS

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

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

*char* *\**\

**acl\_to\_text**(*acl\_t acl*, *ssize\_t \*len\_p*);

*char* *\**\

**acl\_to\_text\_np**(*acl\_t acl*, *ssize\_t \*len\_p*, *int flags*);

## DESCRIPTION

The **acl\_to\_text**() and **acl\_to\_text\_np**() functions translate the ACL pointed to by argument *acl* into a NULL terminated character string. If the pointer *len\_p* is not NULL, then the function shall return the length of the string (not including the NULL terminator) in the location pointed to by *len\_p*. If the ACL is POSIX.1e, the format of the text string returned by **acl\_to\_text**() shall be the POSIX.1e long ACL form. If the ACL is NFSv4, the format of the text string shall be the compact form, unless the *ACL\_TEXT\_VERBOSE* flag is given.

The flags specified are formed by *or*'ing the following values

| | |
| --- | --- |
| ACL\_TEXT\_VERBOSE | Format ACL using verbose form |
| ACL\_TEXT\_NUMERIC\_IDS | Do not resolve IDs into user or group names |
| ACL\_TEXT\_APPEND\_ID | In addition to user and group names, append numeric IDs |

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(3)](/acl_free/3.md) with the *(void\*)char* as an argument.

## IMPLEMENTATION NOTES

FreeBSD's support for POSIX.1e interfaces and features is still under development at this time.

## RETURN VALUES

Upon successful completion, the function shall return a pointer to the long text form of an ACL. Otherwise, a value of *(char\*)NULL* shall be returned and *errno* shall be set to indicate the error.

## ERRORS

If any of the following conditions occur, the **acl\_to\_text**() function shall return a value of *(acl\_t)NULL* and set *errno* to the corresponding value:

- \[EINVAL\]

  Argument *acl* does not point to a valid ACL.

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

- \[ENOMEM\]

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

## SEE ALSO

[acl(3)](/acl/3.md), [acl\_free(3)](/acl_free/3.md), [acl\_from\_text(3)](/acl_from_text/3.md), [posix1e(3)](/posix1e/3.md)

## STANDARDS

POSIX.1e is described in IEEE POSIX.1e draft 17. Discussion of the draft continues on the cross-platform POSIX.1e implementation mailing list. To join this list, see the FreeBSD POSIX.1e implementation page for more information.

## HISTORY

POSIX.1e support was introduced in FreeBSD 4.0, and development continues.

## AUTHORS

Robert N M Watson

## BUGS

The **acl\_from\_text**() and **acl\_to\_text**() functions rely on the [getpwent(3)](/getpwent/3.md) library calls to manage username and uid mapping, as well as the [getgrent(3)](/getgrent/3.md) library calls to manage groupname and gid mapping. These calls are not thread safe, and so transitively, neither are **acl\_from\_text**() and **acl\_to\_text**(). These functions may also interfere with stateful calls associated with the **getpwent**() and **getgrent**() calls.