---
name: "pmReceiveNameID"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "libpcp3-dev"
version: "3.3.3-squeeze3"
release: "Debian 6.0 (Squeeze)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pmNameID"
---

# pmReceiveNameID(3)

translate a PMID to a performance metric name

Part of [pmNameID(3)](/pmNameID/3.md).

## NAME

**pmNameID**, **pmRequestNameID**, **pmReceiveNameID** - translate a PMID to a performance metric name

## C SYNOPSIS

**#include \<pcp/pmapi.h\>**

```
int pmNameID(pmID pmid, char **name)
int pmRequestNameID(int ctx, pmID pmid)
int pmRecieveNameID(int ctx, char **name)
```

**cc ... -lpcp**

## DESCRIPTION

Given a Performance Metric ID (PMID) via  *pmid*, **pmNameID** will determine the corresponding metric name, if any, in the  Performance Metrics Name Space (PMNS), and return this via *name*.

If the PMNS contains multiple names associated with the requested PMID, one of these will be returned via *name*, but there is no way to determine which of the duplicate names this will be.  See [**pmNameAll**(3)](/pmNameAll/3.md) if all of the corresponding names are required.

*name* is a null-byte terminated string, allocated by **pmNameID** using **malloc**(3C) and it is the caller's responsibility to call **free**(3C) to release the storage when the value is no longer required.

In the absence of errors, **pmNameID** returns zero.

**pmRequestNameID** and **pmReceiveNameID** are used by applications which must  communicate with the PMCD asynchronously. These functions take explict context handle *ctx* which must refer to a host context (i.e. creared by passing **PM\_CONTEXT\_HOST** to **pmNewContext**). **pmRequestNameID** sends request to PMCD to translate PMID to a metric name and returns without waiting for the response, **pmReceiveNameID** reads reply from PMCD. It is the responsibility of the application to make sure the data are ready before calling **pmReceiveNameID** to avoid blocking.

## SEE ALSO

[**PMAPI**(3)](/PMAPI/3.md), [**pmGetChildren**(3)](/pmGetChildren/3.md), [**pmGetChildrenStatus**(3)](/pmGetChildrenStatus/3.md), [**pmGetConfig**(3)](/pmGetConfig/3.md), [**pmLoadASCIINameSpace**(3)](/pmLoadASCIINameSpace/3.md), [**pmLoadNameSpace**(3)](/pmLoadNameSpace/3.md), [**pmLookupName**(3)](/pmLookupName/3.md), [**pmNameAll**(3)](/pmNameAll/3.md), [**pmNewContext**(3)](/pmNewContext/3.md), [**pcp.conf**(4)](/pcp.conf/4.md), [**pcp.env**(4)](/pcp.env/4.md) and [**pmns**(4)](/pmns/4.md).

## DIAGNOSTICS

- **PM\_ERR\_NOPMNS**

  Failed to access a PMNS for operation. Note that if the application hasn't a priori called  [**pmLoadNameSpace**(3)](/pmLoadNameSpace/3.md) and wants to use the distributed PMNS, then a call to **pmNameId** must be made after the creation of a context (see  [**pmNewContext**(3)](/pmNewContext/3.md)).

- **PM\_ERR\_PMID**

  *pmid* does not correspond to a defined PMID in the PMNS.

- **PM\_ERR\_\***

  Other diagnostics are for protocol failures when accessing the distributed PMNS.

- **PM\_ERR\_CTXBUSY**

  Context is currently in use by another asynchronous call.