---
name: "uuid_parse"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "util-linux-libs"
version: "2.42.4-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/uuid_parse"
---

# uuid\_parse(3)

convert an input UUID string into binary representation

## NAME

uuid\_parse - convert an input UUID string into binary representation

## SYNOPSIS

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

**int uuid\_parse(const char \****in***, uuid\_t** *uu***);**\
 **int uuid\_parse\_range(const char \****in\_start***, const char \****in\_end***, uuid\_t** *uu***);**

## DESCRIPTION

*The* **uuid\_parse***() function converts the UUID string given by in into the binary representation. The input UUID is a string of the form 1b4e28ba-2fa1-11d2-883f-b9a761bde3fb (in* **printf***(3) format "%08x-%04x-%04x-%04x-%012x", 36 bytes plus the trailing '\\0').*

*The* **uuid\_parse\_range***(3) function works like* **uuid\_parse***() but parses only range in string specified by in\_start and in\_end pointers.*

## RETURN VALUE

*Upon successfully parsing the input string, 0 is returned, and the UUID is stored in the location pointed to by uu, otherwise -1 is returned.*

## CONFORMING TO

*This library parses UUIDs compatible with OSF DCE 1.1, and hash based UUIDs V3 and V5 compatible with* *RFC-4122 \<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4122\>.*

## AUTHORS

*Theodore Y. Ts’o*

## SEE ALSO

**uuid***(3),* **uuid\_clear***(3),* **uuid\_compare***(3),* **uuid\_copy***(3),* **uuid\_generate***(3),* **uuid\_is\_null***(3),* **uuid\_time***(3),* **uuid\_unparse***(3)*

## REPORTING BUGS

*For bug reports, use the* *issue tracker \<https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues\>.*

## AVAILABILITY

*The* **libuuid** *library is part of the util-linux package since version 2.15.1. It can be downloaded from* *Linux Kernel Archive \<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/\>.*