ETHERS(5) — FILE FORMATS
NAME
ethers − ethernet address to hostname database
DESCRIPTION
The ethers file contains information regarding the known (48 bit) ethernet addresses of hosts on the internet. For each host on an ethernet, a single line should be present with the following information:
ethernet address
official host name
Items are separated by any number of blanks and/or tabs. A ‘#’ indicates the beginning of a comment extending to the end of line.
The standard form for ethernet addresses is “x:x:x:x:x:x” where x is a hexadecimal number between 0 and ff, representing one byte. The address bytes are always in network order. Host names may contain any printable character other than a space, tab, newline, or comment character. It is intended that host names in the ethers file correspond to the host names in the hosts(5) file.
The ether_line() routine from the ethernet address manipulation library, ethers(3N) may be used to scan lines of the ethers file.
FILES
/etc/ethers
SEE ALSO
Sun Release 3.0β — Last change: 7 July 1985