if_indextoname3
Mappings between network interface names and indexes
Part of if_nametoindex(3).
Usage
#include <net/if.h>
unsigned int if_nametoindex(const char *ifname); char *if_indextoname(unsigned int ifindex, char *ifname);
Library
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
Overview
The if_nametoindex() function returns the index of the network interface corresponding to the name ifname.
The if_indextoname() function returns the name of the network interface corresponding to the interface index ifindex. The name is placed in the buffer pointed to by ifname. The buffer must allow for the storage of at least IF_NAMESIZE bytes.
Return value
On success, if_nametoindex() returns the index number of the network interface; on error, 0 is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
On success, if_indextoname() returns ifname; on error, NULL is returned and errno is set to indicate the error.
Errors
if_nametoindex() may fail and set errno if:
- ENODEV
-
No interface found with given name.
if_indextoname() may fail and set errno if:
- ENXIO
-
No interface found for the index.
if_nametoindex() and if_indextoname() may also fail for any of the errors specified for socket(2) or ioctl(2).
Attributes
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
| Interface | Attribute | Value |
| if_nametoindex(), if_indextoname() | Thread safety | MT-Safe |
Releases
7 releases since Debian 8 (Jessie); the text changed 6 times.