NAME

gethostname − Gets the name of the local host

SYNOPSIS

#include <unistd.h> int gethostname (
char ∗name,
size_t namelen );

The following definition of the gethostname() function does not conform to current standards and is supported only for backward compatibility:

#include <unistd.h> int gethostname (
char ∗name,
int name_len );

STANDARDS

Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:

gethostname():  XPG4−UNIX

Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags. 

PARAMETERS

nameSpecifies the address of an array of bytes where the hostname is stored. 

namelenSpecifies the length of the array pointed to by the name parameter. 

DESCRIPTION

The gethostname() function retrieves the standard host name of the local host.  If sufficient space is provided, the returned name is null-terminated. 

System hostnames are limited to MAXHOSTNAMELEN as defined in the /usr/include/sys/param.h file. 

The gethostname() function allows a calling process to determine the internal hostname for a machine on a network. 

RETURN VALUES

Upon successful completion, a value of 0 (zero) is returned.  Otherwise, a value of -1 is returned. 

If the version of gethostname() provided for backward compatibility returns a -1, errno is also set to indicate the error. 

ERRORS

If the gethostname() function provided for backward compatibility fails, errno may be set to the following value:

[EFAULT]The address parameter or address_len parameter gives an invalid address. 

RELATED INFORMATION

Functions: gethostid(2), sethostid(2), sethostname(2)

Standards: standards(5)