---
name: "au_read_rec"
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/au_fetch_tok"
---

# au\_read\_rec(3)

perform I/O involving an audit record

Part of [au\_fetch\_tok(3)](/au_fetch_tok/3.md).

## NAME

**au\_fetch\_tok**, **au\_print\_tok**, **au\_print\_flags\_tok**, **au\_read\_rec** – perform I/O involving an audit record

## LIBRARY

library “libbsm”

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<bsm/libbsm.h\>**

*int*\

**au\_fetch\_tok**(*tokenstr\_t \*tok*, *u\_char \*buf*, *int len*);

*void*\

**au\_print\_tok**(*FILE \*outfp*, *tokenstr\_t \*tok*, *char \*del*, *char raw*, *char sfrm*);

*void*\

**au\_print\_flags\_tok**(*FILE \*outfp*, *tokenstr\_t \*tok*, *char \*del*, *int oflags*);

*int*\

**au\_read\_rec**(*FILE \*fp*, *u\_char \*\*buf*);

## DESCRIPTION

These interfaces support input and output (I/O) involving audit records, internalizing an audit record from a byte stream, converting a token to either a raw or default string, and reading a single record from a file.

The **au\_fetch\_tok**() function reads a token from the passed buffer *buf* of length *len* bytes, and returns a pointer to the token via *tok*.

The **au\_print\_tok**() function prints a string form of the token *tok* to the file output stream *outfp*, either in default mode, or raw mode if *raw* is set non-zero. The delimiter *del* is used when printing. The **au\_print\_flags\_tok**() function is a replacement for **au\_print\_tok**(). The *oflags* controls how the output should be formatted and is specified by or'ing the following flags:

- AU\_OFLAG\_NONE

  Use the default form.

- AU\_OFLAG\_NORESOLVE

  Leave user and group IDs in their numeric form.

- AU\_OFLAG\_RAW

  Use the raw, numeric form.

- AU\_OFLAG\_SHORT

  Use the short form.

- AU\_OFLAG\_XML

  Use the XML form.

The flags options AU\_OFLAG\_SHORT and AU\_OFLAG\_RAW are exclusive and should not be used together.

The **au\_read\_rec**() function reads an audit record from the file stream *fp*, and returns an allocated memory buffer containing the record via *\*buf*, which must be freed by the caller using [free(3)](/free/3.md).

A typical use of these routines might open a file with [fopen(3)](/fopen/3.md), then read records from the file sequentially by calling **au\_read\_rec**(). Each record would be broken down into components tokens through sequential calls to **au\_fetch\_tok**() on the buffer, and then invoking **au\_print\_flags\_tok**() to print each token to an output stream such as stdout. On completion of the processing of each record, a call to [free(3)](/free/3.md) would be used to free the record buffer. Finally, the source stream would be closed by a call to [fclose(3)](/fclose/3.md).

## RETURN VALUES

On success, **au\_fetch\_tok**() returns 0 while **au\_read\_rec**() returns the number of bytes read. Both functions return -1 on failure with *errno* set appropriately.

## SEE ALSO

[free(3)](/free/3.md), [libbsm(3)](/libbsm/3.md)

## HISTORY

The OpenBSM implementation was created by McAfee Research, the security division of McAfee Inc., under contract to Apple Computer, Inc., in 2004. It was subsequently adopted by the TrustedBSD Project as the foundation for the OpenBSM distribution.

The **au\_print\_flags\_tok**() function was added by Stacey Son as a replacement for the **au\_print\_tok**() so new output formatting flags can be easily added without changing the API. The **au\_print\_tok**() is obsolete but remains in the API to support legacy code.

## AUTHORS

This software was created by Robert Watson, Wayne Salamon, and Suresh Krishnaswamy for McAfee Research, the security research division of McAfee, Inc., under contract to Apple Computer, Inc.

The Basic Security Module (BSM) interface to audit records and audit event stream format were defined by Sun Microsystems.

## BUGS

The *errno* variable may not always be properly set in the event of an error.