Manual Page Result
0
Command: hosts | Section: 5 | Source: FreeBSD | File: hosts.5.gz
HOSTS(5) FreeBSD File Formats Manual HOSTS(5)
NAME
hosts - host name data base
DESCRIPTION
The hosts file contains information regarding the known hosts on the
network. It can be used in conjunction with DNS, and the NIS maps
`hosts.byaddr' and `hosts.byname', as controlled by nsswitch.conf(5).
For each host a single line should be present with the following
information:
Internet address
official host name
aliases
Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or tab characters. A
``#'' indicates the beginning of a comment; characters up to the end of
the line are not interpreted by routines which search the file.
This file provides a backup used when the name server is not running.
For the name server, it is suggested that only a few addresses be
included in this file. These include addresses for the local interfaces
that ifconfig(8) needs at boot time and a few machines on the local
network.
Network addresses are specified in either the conventional ``.'' (dot)
notation for IPv4 or colon hexadecimal notation for IPv6, as understood
by the inet_pton(3) routine from the Internet address manipulation
library, inet(3). Host names may contain any printable character other
than a field delimiter, newline, or comment character.
FILES
/etc/hosts The hosts file resides in /etc.
SEE ALSO
gethostbyname(3), inet(3), nsswitch.conf(5), ifconfig(8)
HISTORY
The hosts file format appeared in 4.1cBSD.
FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 September 15, 2022 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8