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Command: hosts | Section: 5 | Source: NetBSD | File: hosts.5
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 the 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:
address hostname [alias ...]
These are:
address Internet address
hostname Official host name
alias Alias host name
Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or tab characters. A
hash sign ("#") indicates the beginning of a comment; characters up to
the end of the line are not interpreted by routines which search the
file.
When using the name server named(8), or ypserv(8), this file provides a
backup 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 address for the local interfaces that ifconfig(8) needs at boot
time and a few machines on the local network.
As network addresses, both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are allowed. IPv4
addresses are specified in the conventional dot (".") notation using the
inet_pton(3) routine from the Internet address manipulation library,
inet(3). IPv6 addresses are specified in the standard hex-and-colon
notation. 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), nsswitch.conf(5), ifconfig(8), named(8)
Name Server Operations Guide for BIND.
HISTORY
The hosts file format appeared in 4.2BSD.
FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 November 17, 2000 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8