Reference

std/os/user

std/os/src/user.trb

User - the account this process runs as.

User.current is a match OperatingSystem.current whose arm hands the question to the directory of that system; only the arm of the build's target is compiled.

type User

type User with Show, Equals

The account this process runs as: who it is for the system, what people call it, and where its files are.

  • Linux, macOS and FreeBSD answer the account entry of the user id the process runs as (getpwuid_r): the login name, the GECOS field up to its first comma as the full name, the home directory, and the user id as the identifier. The process is elevated when its effective user id is 0.
  • Windows answers the account name without its domain, GetUserNameExW(NameDisplay) as the full name, the security identifier of the process token as the identifier, FOLDERID_Profile as the home directory, and whether the token is elevated.
  • A browser has no user: OsError.Unsupported.

Examples

const user = User.current().await()?
print "{user.name} lives in {user.home}"

if user.isElevated {
  print "running with administrator rights"
}

Pitfalls

  • identifier is text because the two kinds have nothing else in common: 1000 on POSIX, S-1-5-21-… on Windows. Compare it with another identifier of the same system, never with a number.
  • home is the account's own, as the system's account database or Known Folders say it. Directories.home answers the HOME variable first where it is set, so the two differ when the environment overrides it.
  • isElevated on Windows is the elevation of the token: a member of the administrators group whose program was not started as administrator is not elevated.

Related

  • Directories - the folders below the home directory.

field name

name: String

The login name: ada, and on Windows the account name without its domain.

field fullName

fullName: String?

The name for people: the GECOS field, GetUserNameExW(NameDisplay). None where the account has none.

field identifier

identifier: String

1000 on POSIX, the SID S-1-5-21-… on Windows: text, because the two have nothing else in common.

field home

home: Path

The account's home directory: /home/ada, /Users/ada, C:/Users/ada.

field isElevated

isElevated: Bool

Root on POSIX, an elevated token on Windows.

fn current

static fn current(): Task<Result<User, OsError>>

The account of the running process. It waits, because the account database may be a directory service on the network.

Errors

  • OsError.Missing where the process runs as a user id with no account entry, or an entry without a home.
  • OsError.Denied where the system refuses to tell.
  • OsError.Malformed where the entry is not in the form the system writes: a home that is no absolute path, a security identifier that is no S-1-….
  • OsError.Unsupported in a browser, which has no user.

Examples

const user = User.current().await()?
print "{user.name} ({user.identifier})"