hpux 10.20 - hosts (4)

 NAME
      hosts - host name data base

 DESCRIPTION
      The file /etc/hosts associates Internet (IP) addresses with official
      host names and aliases.  This allows a user to refer to a host by a
      symbolic name instead of an Internet address.

      Note: This file must contain all addresses for local interfaces that
      ifconfig needs at boot time (see ifconfig(1m)).  When using the name
      server (see named(1m)), or Network Information Service (see
      ypserv(1m)), this file often serves as a backup when the server is not
      running.  In such circumstances, it is a common practice for
      /etc/hosts to contain a few addresses of machines on the local
      network.

      /etc/hosts should contain a single line for each host with the
      following information:

           <internet address> <official host name> <aliases>

      Aliases are other names by which a host is known.  They can substitute
      for the official host name in most commands.  For example:

           192.45.36.5     hpdxsg  testhost

      In this example, users can use remote login on hpdxsg by using the
      command:

           rlogin testhost

      instead of

           rlogin hpdxsg

      If your system is in a domain naming environment, an official host
      name consists of the full domain extended host name.  For example:

           192.45.36.5     hpdxsg.xsg.hp.com  hpdxsg  testhost

      A line cannot start with a blank (space or tab character).  Items are
      separated by any number or combination of space or tab characters
      (blanks).  A # character indicates the beginning of a comment.
      Characters from the # to the end of the line are not interpreted by
      routines that search the file.  Trailing blanks are allowed at the end
      of a line.

      For the Internet, this file is normally created from the official host
      database maintained at the Network Information Control Center (NIC),
      although local changes may be required to bring it up to date with
      respect to unofficial aliases and/or unknown hosts.

      Network addresses are specified in the conventional Internet dot
      notation using the inet_addr() routine from the Internet address
      manipulation library (see inet(3N)).  Host names can contain any
      printable character other than a white space, newline, or comment
      character.

 EXAMPLES
      See /etc/hosts.

 AUTHOR
      hosts was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.

 SEE ALSO
      gethostent(3N), inet(3N), switch(4).