---
name: "ldap_controls"
section: "3"
platform: "macos"
package: "OpenLDAP"
version: "561"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["linux", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ldap_controls"
---

# ldap\_controls(3)

LDAP control manipulation routines

## NAME

ldap\_control\_create, ldap\_control\_find, ldap\_control\_dup, ldap\_controls\_dup, ldap\_control\_free, ldap\_controls\_free - LDAP control manipulation routines

## LIBRARY

OpenLDAP LDAP (libldap, -lldap)

## SYNOPSIS

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

**int ldap\_control\_create(const char \****oid***, int** *iscritical***, struct berval \****value***, int** *dupval***, LDAPControl \*\****ctrlp***);**

**LDAPControl \*ldap\_control\_find( const char \****oid***, LDAPControl \*\****ctrls***, LDAPControl \*\*\****nextctrlp***);**

**LDAPControl \*ldap\_control\_dup(LDAPControl \****ctrl***);**

**LDAPControl \*\*ldap\_controls\_dup(LDAPControl \*\****ctrls***);**

**void ldap\_control\_free(LDAPControl \****ctrl***);**

**void ldap\_controls\_free(LDAPControl \*\****ctrls***);**

## DESCRIPTION

These routines are used to manipulate structures used for LDAP controls.

**ldap\_control\_create**() creates a control with the specified *OID* using the contents of the *value* parameter for the control value, if any.  The content of *value* is duplicated if *dupval* is non-zero.  The *iscritical* parameter must be non-zero for a critical control. The created control is returned in the *ctrlp* parameter.  The routine returns **LDAP\_SUCCESS** on success or some other error code on failure. The content of *value*, for supported control types, can be prepared using helpers provided by this implementation of libldap, usually in the form **ldap\_create\_\<control name\>\_control\_value**(). Otherwise, it can be BER-encoded using the functionalities of liblber.

**ldap\_control\_find**() searches the NULL-terminated *ctrls* array for a control whose OID matches the *oid* parameter.  The routine returns a pointer to the control if found, NULL otherwise. If the parameter *nextctrlp* is not NULL, on return it will point to the next control in the array, and can be passed to the **ldap\_control\_find**() routine for subsequent calls, to find further occurrences of the same  control type. The use of this function is discouraged; the recommended way of handling controls in responses consists in going through the array of controls, dealing with each of them in the returned order, since it could matter.

**ldap\_control\_dup**() duplicates an individual control structure, and **ldap\_controls\_dup**() duplicates a NULL-terminated array of controls.

**ldap\_control\_free**() frees an individual control structure, and **ldap\_controls\_free**() frees a NULL-terminated array of controls.

## SEE ALSO

[**ldap**(3)](/ldap/3.md), [**ldap\_error**(3)](/ldap_error/3.md)

## ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS