'\"macro stdmacro
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.TH PMLOOKUPTEXT 3 "PCP" "Performance Co-Pilot"
.SH NAME
\f3pmLookupText\f1 \- return text describing a performance metric
.SH "C SYNOPSIS"
.ft 3
#include <pcp/pmapi.h>
.sp
.nf
int pmLookupText(pmID \fIpmid\fP, int \fIlevel\fP, char **\fIbuffer\fP);
.fi
.sp
cc ... \-lpcp
.ft 1
.SH DESCRIPTION
Retrieve descriptive text about the performance metric identified by
.IR pmid .
.PP
The argument
.I level
should be  either
.BR PM_TEXT_ONELINE
for a one-line summary, else
.BR PM_TEXT_HELP
for a more verbose description, suited to a help dialog. 
.PP
The space pointed to by
.I buffer
will have been allocated in
.B pmLookupText
with
.BR malloc (3),
and it is the responsibility of the caller to
.BR free (3)
the space when it is no longer required.
.PP
.B pmLookupText
returns zero on success.
.SH DIAGNOSTICS
.IP \f3PM_ERR_NOTHOST\f1
For archives created with versions of PCP prior to 4.0, if the
current PMAPI context is an archive log (help and one-line text
was previously not maintained in the archive logs)
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR chkhelp (1),
.BR newhelp (1),
.BR PMAPI (3),
.BR pmGetConfig (3),
.BR pmLookupDesc (3),
.BR pmLookupLabels(3),
.BR pmLookupInDomText (3),
.BR pcp.conf (5)
and
.BR pcp.env (5).