.\" libsocket Copyright 1997, 1998 by Indrek Mandre
.\" libsocket Copyright 1997, 1998 by Richard Dawe
.\" Manual pages written by Richard Dawe
.\"
.TH HOSTS 5 "17 August 1998" "libsocket 0.7.3" "libsocket Reference"
.SH NAME
hosts \- the host name to IP address mapping file
.SH DESCRIPTION
This file tells the host name resolver the IP address corresponding to each
host name. This is useful if there is no DNS server on the network. It can
also be used if the DNS server does not have a record for a particular host
name, but its IP address is known.
.sp
The file is a plain ASCII file. Comments are denoted by a hash at the start of
a line. Each line has the following format:
.sp
.RS
.B <IP address> <host name> <alias>
.RE
.sp
e.g.
.RS
# hosts - host name to IP address translation file
.br
127.0.0.1   localhost
.br
192.168.0.2 gertrude
.br
192.168.0.3 herbert
.br
192.168.0.4 norman
.br
192.168.0.5 jonathon jon
.br
.RE
.sp
There should always be a line refering to
.IR localhost .
This is the local computer, and is always accessible.
.sp
Note: Windows doesn't use the aliases, so you will need multiple lines for
the same IP address to fake aliasing.
.SH FILES
.IR /etc/hosts " (Linux),"
.IR C:\eWINDOWS\eHOSTS " (Windows)"
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR networks (5)