These functions are used to parse results received from ldap_result(3LDAP) or the synchronous LDAP search operation functions ldap_search_s(3LDAP) and ldap_search_st(3LDAP).

The ldap_first_entry() function is used to retrieve the first entry in a chain of search results. It takes the result as returned by a call to ldap_result(3LDAP) or ldap_search_s(3LDAP) or ldap_search_st(3LDAP) and returns a pointer to the first entry in the result.

This pointer should be supplied on a subsequent call to ldap_next_entry() to get the next entry, the result of which should be supplied to the next call to ldap_next_entry(), etc. ldap_next_entry() will return NULL when there are no more entries. The entries returned from these calls are used in calls to the functions described in ldap_get_dn(3LDAP), ldap_first_attribute(3LDAP), ldap_get_values(3LDAP), etc.

A count of the number of entries in the search result can be obtained by calling ldap_count_entries().

ldap_first_reference() and ldap_next_reference() are used to step through and retrieve the list of continuation references from a search result chain.

The ldap_count_references() function is used to count the number of references that are contained in and remain in a search result chain.

If an error occurs in ldap_first_entry() or ldap_next_entry(), NULL is returned and the ld_errno field in the ld parameter is set to indicate the error. If an error occurs in ldap_count_entries(), -1 is returned, and ld_errno is set appropriately. See ldap_error(3LDAP) for a description of possible error codes.

See attributes(5) for a description of the following attributes:

ldap(3LDAP), ldap_result(3LDAP), ldap_search(3LDAP), ldap_first_attribute(3LDAP), ldap_get_values(3LDAP), ldap_get_dn(3LDAP), attributes(5)