---
name: "pmLookupInDomText"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcp"
version: "7.2.2-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://carta.tech/man/pmLookupInDomText"
---

# pmLookupInDomText(3)

return text describing a performance metrics instance domain

## NAME

**pmLookupInDomText** - return text describing a performance metrics instance domain

## C SYNOPSIS

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

**int pmLookupInDomText(pmInDom** *indom***,** **int** *level***,** **char \*\****buffer***);**

**cc ... -lpcp**

## DESCRIPTION

Retrieve descriptive text about the performance metrics instance domain identified by *indom*.

The value for the instance domain *indom* is typically extracted from a *pmDesc* structure, following a call to [**pmLookupDesc**(3)](/man/pmLookupDesc/3.md) for a particular performance metric.

The argument *level* should be **PM\_TEXT\_ONELINE** for a one-line summary, else **PM\_TEXT\_HELP** for a more verbose description, suited to a help dialog.

The space pointed to by *buffer* will have been allocated in **pmLookupInDomText** with [**malloc**(3)](/man/malloc/3.md), and it is the responsibility of the caller to [**free**(3)](/man/free/3.md) the space when it is no longer required.

**pmLookupInDomText** returns zero on success.

## DIAGNOSTICS

- **PM\_ERR\_NOTHOST**

  For archives created with versions of PCP prior to 4.0, if the current PMAPI context is an archive (help and one-line text was previously not maintained in the archives)

## SEE ALSO

[**chkhelp**(1)](/man/chkhelp/1.md), [**newhelp**(1)](/man/newhelp/1.md), [**PMAPI**(3)](/man/PMAPI/3.md), [**pmGetConfig**(3)](/man/pmGetConfig/3.md), [**pmLookupDesc**(3)](/man/pmLookupDesc/3.md), [**pmLookupLabels**(3)](/man/pmLookupLabels/3.md), [**pmLookupText**(3)](/man/pmLookupText/3.md), [**pcp.conf**(5)](/man/pcp.conf/5.md) and [**pcp.env**(5)](/man/pcp.env/5.md).