NAME
if_nametoindex,
    if_indextoname,
    if_nameindex,
    if_freenameindex —
    provide mappings between interface
    names and indexes
SYNOPSIS
#include
    <sys/types.h>
  
  #include <sys/socket.h>
  
  #include <net/if.h>
unsigned int
  
  if_nametoindex(const
    char *ifname);
char *
  
  if_indextoname(unsigned
    int ifindex, char
    *ifname);
struct if_nameindex *
  
  if_nameindex(void);
void
  
  if_freenameindex(struct
    if_nameindex *ptr);
DESCRIPTION
Theif_nametoindex()
  function maps the interface name specified in ifname to
  its corresponding index. If the specified interface does not exist, it returns
  0.
The
    if_indextoname()
    function maps the interface index specified in ifindex
    to it corresponding name, which is copied into the buffer pointed to by
    ifname, which must be of at least
    IFNAMSIZ bytes. This pointer is also the return
    value of the function. If there is no interface corresponding to the
    specified index, NULL is returned.
The
    if_nameindex()
    function returns an array of if_nameindex structures,
    one structure per interface, as defined in the include file
    <net/if.h>. The
    if_nameindex structure contains at least the following
    entries:
    unsigned int   if_index;  /* 1, 2, ... */
    char          *if_name;   /* null terminated name: "le0", ... */
The end of the array of structures is indicated by a structure
    with an if_index of 0 and an
    if_name of NULL. A
    NULL pointer is returned upon an error.
The
    if_freenameindex()
    function frees the dynamic memory that was allocated by
    if_nameindex().
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion,
    if_nametoindex() returns the index number of the
    interface. If the interface is not found, a value of 0 is returned and
    errno is set to ENXIO. A value
    of 0 is also returned if an error occurs while retrieving the list of
    interfaces via
    getifaddrs(3).
Upon successful completion,
    if_indextoname() returns
    ifname. If the interface is not found, a
    NULL pointer is returned and
    errno is set to ENXIO. A
    NULL pointer is also returned if an error occurs
    while retrieving the list of interfaces via
    getifaddrs(3).
The if_nameindex() returns a
    NULL pointer if an error occurs while retrieving the
    list of interfaces via
    getifaddrs(3), or if sufficient memory cannot be
  allocated.
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The if_nametoindex(),
    if_indextoname(),
    if_nameindex(), and
    if_freenameindex() functions conform to
    RFC 2553.
HISTORY
The implementation first appeared in BSDi BSD/OS.