elf_getarsym - Man Page

retrieve archive symbol table

Synopsis

#include <libelf.h>

Elf_Arsym *elf_getarsym(Elf *elf, size_t *narsyms);"

Description

Retrieve the archive symbol table from the archive file associated with elf.

If the archive contains a symbol table, elf_getarsym() returns a pointer to an array of Elf_Arsym structures describing each symbol. Also store the number of symbols in this array in narsyms if not NULL.

Elf_Arsym has the following layout:

typedef struct {
  char   *as_name;   /* Symbol name (null-terminated). */
  int64_t as_off;    /* File offset of defining archive member. */
  uint64_t as_hash;  /* Hash value of symbol name. */
} Elf_Arsym;

The last entry in the archive symbol table is the special entry { NULL, 0, ~0L}. This can be used to find the end of the table if narsyms is NULL.

Parameters

elf: An ELF descriptor referring to an archive file, obtained by calling elf_begin(3) on an archive.
narsyms: A pointer to a size_t in which the number of entries in the symbol table will be stored if this pointer is not NULL.

Return Value

If the archive contains a symbol table, return a pointer to an array of Elf_Arsym structures, including the special NULL entry indicating the the end of the table. Sets *narsyms to the number of entries in the array (if narsyms is not NULL). These pointers are managed by libelf and should not be freed by the caller of elf_getarsym.

If the archive does not contain a symbol table or elf is not a valid archive descriptor, elf_getarsym returns NULL.