---
name: "getfsent"
section: "3"
platform: "macos"
package: "Libinfo"
version: "600"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/getfsent"
---

# getfsent(3)

get file system descriptor file entry

## NAME

**getfsent**, **getfsspec**, **getfsfile**, **setfsent**, **endfsent** – get file system descriptor file entry

## LIBRARY

Standard system libraries.

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<fstab.h\>**

*struct fstab \**\

**getfsent**(*void*);

*struct fstab \**\

**getfsspec**(*const char \*spec*);

*struct fstab \**\

**getfsfile**(*const char \*file*);

*int*\

**setfsent**(*void*);

*void*\

**endfsent**(*void*);

## DESCRIPTION

The **getfsent**(), **getfsspec**(), and **getfsfile**() functions each return a pointer to an object with the following structure containing file system descriptions from the directory systems consulted by the **opendirectoryd** daemon. This will include records from the local /etc/fstab file.

```
struct fstab {
	char	*fs_spec;	/* block special device name */
	char	*fs_file;	/* file system path prefix */
	char	*fs_vfstype;	/* File system type, ufs, nfs */
	char	*fs_mntops;	/* Mount options ala -o */
	char	*fs_type;	/* FSTAB_* from fs_mntops */
	int	fs_freq;	/* dump frequency, in days */
	int	fs_passno;	/* pass number on parallel fsck */
};
```

The fields have meanings described in [fstab(5)](/fstab/5.md).

The **getfsspec**() and **getfsfile**() functions search in available directory services for a matching special file name or file system file name.

For programs wishing to read the entire database, **getfsent**() searches all available directory services on it's first invocation. It caches the returned entries in a list and returns fstab entries one at a time.

The **setfsent**() and **endfsent**() functions clear the cached results from a previous **getfsent**() call.

Entries in the /etc/fstab file with a type field equivalent to FSTAB\_XX are ignored.

## RETURN VALUES

The **getfsent**(), **getfsspec**(), and **getfsfile**() functions return a NULL pointer on EOF or error. The **setfsent**() function returns 0 on failure, 1 on success. The **endfsent**() function returns nothing.

## FILES

- */etc/fstab*

  ## SEE ALSO

opendirectoryd(8), [fstab(5)](/fstab/5.md).

## HISTORY

The **getfsent**() function appeared in 4.0BSD; the **endfsent**(), **getfsfile**(), **getfsspec**(), and **setfsent**() functions appeared in 4.3BSD.

## BUGS

The data space used by these functions is thread-specific; if future use requires the data, it should be copied before any subsequent calls to these functions overwrite it.