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HOSTS(5) 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 infor- mation: 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 in- cluded 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 li- brary, 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 ports 15.1 September 15, 2022 HOSTS(5)
NAME | DESCRIPTION | FILES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY
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