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hosts(4)
NAME
  hosts - The host name data base

SYNOPSIS
  /etc/hosts

DESCRIPTION
  The hosts file contains information regarding the known hosts on the
  network.  For each host a single line should be present with the following
  information:

	IP_address canonical_hostname aliases

  Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or tab characters.  The #
  (number 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), 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.

  This file may be created from the official host data base maintained at the
  Network Information Control Center (NIC), though local changes may be
  required to bring it up to date regarding unofficial aliases and/or unknown
  hosts.  As the data base maintained at NIC is incomplete, use of the name
  server is recommend for sites on the DARPA Internet.

  Network addresses are specified in the conventional . notation using the
  inet_addr() routine from the Internet address manipulation library,
  inet_addr(3).	 Host names may contain any printable character other than a
  field delimiter, newline, or comment character.

RELATED INFORMATION
  Commands: ifconfig(8), named(8)

  Functions: gethostbyname(3)

Index for Section 4

Alphabetical listing for H

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