Normalizing a DN

Before comparing DNs, you can normalize the DNs to prevent the comparison from failing due to extra white space or different capitalization. You can normalize a DN with slapi_dn_normalize() and slapi_dn_normalize_case(), as shown in the following example.

Example 4–10 Normalizing a DN (dns.c)

#include "slapi-plugin.h"

int
test_norm()
{
    char * test_DN;                    /* Original, not normalized */
    char * copy_DN;                    /* Copy that is normalized. */

    test_DN = "dc=Example,     dc=COM";/* Prior to normalization...*/

    /* When normalizing the DN with slapi_dn_normalize() and
     * slapi_dn_normalize_case(), the DN is changed in place.
     * Use slapi_ch_strdup() to work on a copy.                    */
    copy_DN = slapi_ch_strdup(test_DN);
    copy_DN = slapi_dn_normalize_case(copy_DN);

    return 0;
}

The function slapi_dn_normalize_case() works directly on the char * DN passed as an argument. This prepares the string for “case ignore matching” as specified, but not defined, for X.500.

Use slapi_ch_strdup() to make a copy first if you do not want to modify the original.