HOSTS(5)                             BSD                              HOSTS(5)



NAME
     hosts - host name database

DESCRIPTION
     The hosts file contains information regarding the known DARPA Internet
     hosts with which your Domain node can communicate (usually via TCP/IP).
     For each host, a single line should be present with the following
     information:

          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.

     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(8C) needs at boot time and a few
     machines on the local network.

     This file may be created from the official host database 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 database 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(3N).  Host names may contain any printable character other than a
     field delimiter, newline, or comment character.

FILES
     /etc/hosts

SEE ALSO
     gethostbyname(3N), ifconfig(8C), named(8)