# MPI_Attr_get

Retrieves attribute value by key

## Synopsis

    #include "mpi.h"
    int MPI_Attr_get (
     MPI_Comm comm,
     int keyval,
     void *attr_value,
     int *flag )

## Input Parameters

| comm | communicator to which attribute is attached (handle)
| keyval | key value (integer)

## Output Parameters

| attr_value | attribute value, unless `flag` = false
| flag | true if an attribute value was extracted; false if no attribute is associated with the key

## Notes

Attributes must be extracted from the same language as they were inserted in with `MPI_ATTR_PUT`. The notes for C and Fortran below explain why.

## Notes for C

Even though the `attr_value` arguement is declared as `void *`, it is really the address of a void pointer. See the rationale in the standard for more details.

## Notes for Fortran

All MPI routines in Fortran (except for `MPI_WTIME` and `MPI_WTICK`) have an additional argument `ierr` at the end of the argument list. `ierr` is an integer and has the same meaning as the return value of the routine in C. In Fortran, MPI routines are subroutines, and are invoked with the `call` statement.

All MPI objects (e.g., `MPI_Datatype`, `MPI_Comm`) are of type `INTEGER` in Fortran.

The `attr_value` in Fortran is a pointer to a Fortran integer, not a pointer to a `void *`.

## Errors

All MPI routines (except `MPI_Wtime` and `MPI_Wtick`) return an error value; C routines as the value of the function and Fortran routines in the last argument. Before the value is returned, the current MPI error handler is called. By default, this error handler aborts the MPI job. The error handler may be changed with `MPI_Errhandler_set`; the predefined error handler `MPI_ERRORS_RETURN` may be used to cause error values to be returned. Note that MPI does not guarentee that an MPI program can continue past an error.

MPI_SUCCESS
  No error; MPI routine completed successfully.

MPI_ERR_COMM
  Invalid communicator. A common error is to use a null communicator in a call (not even allowed in `MPI_Comm_rank`).

MPI_ERR_OTHER
  Other error; the error code associated with this error indicates an attempt to use an invalue keyval.

Location:attr_getval.c