ACL\_GET\_FILE(3) Library Functions Manual ACL\_GET\_FILE(3) # [NAME](#NAME) `acl_get_file`, `acl_get_file_at` — get an ACL by filename # [LIBRARY](#LIBRARY) Linux Access Control Lists library (libacl, -lacl). # [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS) `#include ` `#include ` `acl_t` `acl_get_file`(`const char *path_p`, `acl_type_t type`); `acl_t` `acl_get_file_at`(`int dirfd`, `const char *path_p`, `int at_flags`, `acl_type_t type`); # [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION) The [`acl_get_file`](#acl_get_file)() function retrieves the access ACL associated with a file or directory, or the default ACL associated with a directory. The pathname for the file or directory is given in the argument `path_p`. If `path_p` is a symbolic link, `acl_get_file`() returns information about the file or directory the link refers to. The ACL is placed into working storage and [`acl_get_file`](#acl_get_file~2)() returns a pointer to that storage. In order to read an ACL from an object, a process must have read access to the object's attributes. The value of the argument `type` is used to indicate whether the access ACL or the default ACL associated with `path_p` is returned. If `type` is `ACL_TYPE_ACCESS`, the access ACL of `path_p` is returned. If `type` is `ACL_TYPE_DEFAULT`, the default ACL of `path_p` is returned. If `type` is `ACL_TYPE_DEFAULT` and no default ACL is associated with the directory `path_p`, then an ACL containing zero ACL entries is returned. If `type` specifies a type of ACL that cannot be associated with `path_p`, then the function fails. This function may cause memory to be allocated. The caller should free any releasable memory, when the new ACL is no longer required, by calling [acl\_free(3)](/man/os/acl/acl_free.3) with the `(void*)acl_t` returned by [`acl_get_file`](#acl_get_file~3)() as an argument. ## `acl_get_file_at`() The `acl_get_file_at`() function operates in exactly the same way as `acl_get_file`(), except for the differences described here. If the pathname given in `path_p` is relative, then it is interpreted relative to the directory referred to by the file descriptor `dirfd` (rather than relative to the current working directory of the calling process, as is done by [`acl_get_file`](#acl_get_file~4)()). If `path_p` is relative and `dirfd` is the special value `AT_FDCWD`, then `path_p` is interpreted relative to the current working directory of the calling process (like [`acl_get_file`](#acl_get_file~5)()). If `path_p` is absolute, then `dirfd` is ignored. The `at_flags` argument can either be 0, or include one or more of the following flags ORed: [`AT_EMPTY_PATH`](#AT_EMPTY_PATH) If `path_p` is an empty string, operate on the file referred to by `dirfd` (which may have been obtained using the [open(2)](/man/os/acl/open.2) `O_PATH` flag). In this case, `dirfd` can refer to any type of file, not just a directory, and the behavior of [`acl_get_file_at`](#acl_get_file_at)() is similar to that of [`acl_get_fd`](#acl_get_fd)(). [`AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW`](#AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW) If `path_p` refers to a symbolic link, do not dereference it: instead, fail the operation and set the global variable `errno` to `ENOTSUP`. This indicates that the symbolic link cannot have ACLs. # [RETURN VALUE](#RETURN_VALUE) On success, the `acl_get_file`() and `acl_get_file_at`() functions return a pointer to the working storage. On error, a value of `(acl_t)NULL` is returned, and `errno` is set appropriately. # [ERRORS](#ERRORS) If any of the following conditions occur, the `acl_get_file`() and `acl_get_file_at`() functions return a value of `(acl_t)NULL` and set `errno` to the corresponding value: \[[`EACCES`](#EACCES)] Search permission is denied for a component of the path prefix or the object exists and the process does not have appropriate access rights. Argument `type` specifies a type of ACL that cannot be associated with `path_p`. \[[`EBADF`](#EBADF)] The argument `path_p` is relative but the argument `dirfd` is neither `AT_FDCWD` nor a valid file descriptor. \[[`EINVAL`](#EINVAL)] The argument `type` is not `ACL_TYPE_ACCESS` or `ACL_TYPE_DEFAULT`. An invalid flag was specified in the `at_flags` argument. \[[`ENAMETOOLONG`](#ENAMETOOLONG)] The length of the argument `path_p` is too long. \[[`ENOENT`](#ENOENT)] The named object does not exist or the argument `path_p` points to an empty string. \[[`ENOMEM`](#ENOMEM)] The ACL working storage requires more memory than is allowed by the hardware or system-imposed memory management constraints. \[[`ENOTDIR`](#ENOTDIR)] A component of the path prefix is not a directory. The argument `path_p` is relative and the argument `dirfd` is a file descriptor referring to a file other than a directory. \[[`ENOTSUP`](#ENOTSUP)] The argument `at_flags` includes the flag `AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW` and `path_p` is a symbolic link. The file system on which the file identified by `path_p` is located does not support ACLs, or ACLs are disabled. # [STANDARDS](#STANDARDS) IEEE Std 1003.1e draft 17 (“POSIX.1e”, abandoned) Function `acl_get_file_at`() is a Linux specific extension. # [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO) [acl\_free(3)](/man/os/acl/acl_free.3), [acl\_get\_entry(3)](/man/os/acl/acl_get_entry.3), [acl\_get\_fd(3)](/man/os/acl/acl_get_fd.3), [acl\_set\_file(3)](/man/os/acl/acl_set_file.3), [acl(5)](/man/os/acl/acl.5) # [AUTHOR](#AUTHOR) Derived from the FreeBSD manual pages written by Robert N M Watson ⟨rwatson@FreeBSD.org⟩, and adapted for Linux by Andreas Gruenbacher ⟨andreas.gruenbacher@gmail.com⟩. June 5, 2026 Linux ACL --- Document: acl_get_file(3) from acl 2.4.0-r3 (Chainguard OS) Source: https://git.savannah.nongnu.org/git/acl.git