protocols(4)              FILE FORMATS               protocols(4)



NAME
     protocols - protocol name data base

SYNOPSIS
     /etc/protocols

DESCRIPTION
     The protocols file contains information regarding the  known
     protocols  used  in the DARPA Internet.  For each protocol a
     single line should be present with  the  following  informa-
     tion:

          official-protocol-name   protocol-number     aliases

     Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or TAB char-
     acters.  A `#' indicates the beginning of a comment; charac-
     ters up to the end of the line are not interpreted  by  rou-
     tines which search the file.

     Protocol names may contain  any  printable  character  other
     than a field delimiter, NEWLINE, or comment character.

EXAMPLE
     The following is a sample database:

     #
     # Internet (IP) protocols
     #
     ip      0       IP      # internet protocol, pseudo protocol number
     icmp    1       ICMP    # internet control message protocol
     ggp     3       GGP     # gateway-gateway protocol
     tcp     6       TCP     # transmission control protocol
     pup     12      PUP     # PARC universal packet protocol
     udp     17      UDP     # user datagram protocol

FILES
     /etc/protocols

SEE ALSO
     getprotoent(3N)

BUGS
     A name server should be used instead of a  static  file.   A
     binary  indexed  file  format  should  be available for fast
     access.










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