HOSTS(4)                                                 HOSTS(4)



     NAME
          hosts - host name data base

     DESCRIPTION
          The hosts file contains information on the known hosts on
          the DARPA Internet.  This file contains:

          ⊕    lines of text with one or more fields separated by
               exactly one space

          ⊕    optional comments that begin with a pound sign (#) and
               continue to the end of the line

          The first field contains the 4 byte Internet address.  This
          address is a logical address which identifies a host on the
          network.  You must specify all four bytes of the address
          even if any byte is 0.  Each byte may be specified in
          decimal or hexadecimal notation separated by a period.
          (Precede hexadecimal digits by 0x.)  For example, 89.0.0.1.
          (See inet(7) for a complete explanation of the ``.''
          notation.)

          The second field contains the official host name
          corresponding to the Internet address.  This name is an
          arbitrary string, preferably long enough to keep hosts
          unique on the network.  Typically, a name class is chosen,
          such as alabama, alaska, arkansas ... or washington, adams,
          jefferson ...

          The subsequent fields contain aliases or nicknames for a
          particular host.  These aliases are other names for a
          particular system.  Typically this is a shorter name (al,
          ak, ar ... or george, john, tom), and may not be unique
          across the network.  For example, the host alaska could have
          the following address and alias:

                              129.0.9.5 alaska ak

     CAUTION
          Avoid using host names that have more than eight letters or
          digits, or host names with upper case letters.

     FILES
          /etc/hosts

     SEE ALSO
          hosts.equiv(4)

     ORIGIN
          4.3 BSD





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