gd_alias_target(3)

💖 gd_alias_target(3) — GETDATA 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the manual page for gd_alias_target, living in the GETDATA section 3 of your friendly neighbourhood man pages. it's giving "who is this alias actually pointing at" energy and honestly? we're obsessed. 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

gd_alias_target — determine the target of an alias defined in a Dirfile database 🌸

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <getdata.h>

const char *gd_alias_target(DIRFILE *dirfile, const char *alias_name);

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so. the gd_alias_target() function queries a dirfile(5) database — the one you specify with dirfile — and figures out the target field code of the alias you named in alias_name. that's it. that's the whole vibe. ✨

the dirfile argument must point to a valid DIRFILE object that you already made with a call to gd_open(3). no shortcuts, no pretending, no "i'll make it later". valid object or bust. 💀

note bestie, listen up: the target may itself be an alias, and that alias will have its own target. aliases in aliases, it's giving inception fr fr. 🌀 if you want the canonical name of the field that's ultimately referenced by alias_name, pass it to gd_entry(3) and go inspect the field member of the gd_entry_t structure it hands back. iykyk. 👑

🔥 RETURN VALUE 🔥

when everything slays, gd_alias_target() returns a pointer to a read-only character string containing the name of the target of the alias you asked about. you don't own it, don't touch it, just read it and move on. 🫶

on error, gd_alias_target() returns NULL and sets the dirfile error to a non-zero error value. possible error values are:

• GD_E_BAD_CODE — the name alias_name was not found in the dirfile. 💀
• GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE — the supplied dirfile was invalid. 🙈
• GD_E_BAD_FIELD_TYPE — the entry specified by alias_name was not an alias. girl, that's not an alias, that's something else entirely. 😭

you can grab the dirfile error by calling gd_error(3). and if you want a whole descriptive error string for the last error encountered, hit up gd_error_string(3) — it'll tell you what went wrong in actual words. 📝

🌈 HISTORY 🌈

the function gd_alias_target() first appeared in GetData-0.8.0. a true icon, a legend, the moment. 👑

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• gd_aliases(3)
• gd_entry(3)
• gd_open(3)
• dirfile(5)

and that's the page bestie!! this manual is Version 0.10.0, dated 25 December 2016 — a little holiday gift from the GetData girlies. go forth and resolve your aliases, you absolute main character. 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅