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ETHERS(5)		       File Formats Manual		       ETHERS(5)

NAME
     ethers -- ethernet address database

DESCRIPTION
     The  ethers  database  contains information regarding known 48-bit ethernet
     addresses of hosts on an Internetwork.  The data is stored in a file called
     /etc/ethers in the following format:

	   ethernet-address fully-qualified-host-name

     Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or tab characters.  A ``#''
     at the start of a line indicates the beginning of a comment that extends to
     the end of the line.  A ``+'' at  the  start  of  a  line	will  cause  the
     ethers(3) library functions to use data stored in the NIS ethers.byname and
     ethers.byaddr maps in addition to the data in the /etc/ethers file.

     An  ethernet address is expressed in ASCII form as "x:x:x:x:x:x" where x is
     a hexadecimal value between 0x00 and 0xFF.  The address values should be in
     network order.  Hostnames specified in the /etc/ethers database should cor-
     respond to entries in the hosts(5) file.

     The ether_line() function in the standard C library can be  used  to  break
     individual  lines	in the /etc/ethers database into their individual compo-
     nents: a binary Ethernet address stored as an ether_addr structure,  and  a
     hostname stored as a character string.

FILES
     /etc/ethers    The ethers file resides in /etc.

SEE ALSO
     ethers(3), yp(8)

HISTORY
     The ethers format is based on the format used in SunOS 4.1.x.

FreeBSD 15.1			 April 12, 1995 		       ETHERS(5)

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