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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 net-
     work.  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 informa-
     tion:

	   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 net-
     work.

     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	13.0		      September	15, 2022		  FreeBSD 13.0

NAME | DESCRIPTION | FILES | SEE ALSO | HISTORY

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