NAME
     hosts - host name database

SYNOPSIS
     /etc/inet/hosts
     /etc/hosts

DESCRIPTION
     The hosts file is a local database that associates the names
     of  hosts  with their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.  The
     hosts file can be used in conjunction with, or  instead  of,
     other  hosts  databases,  including  the  Domain Name System
     (DNS), the NIS hosts map and the NIS+ hosts table.  Programs
     use  library  interfaces  to access information in the hosts
     file.

     The hosts file has one entry for each  IP  address  of  each
     host.   If a host has more than one IP address, it will have
     one entry for each.  The format of each line is:

          IP-address     official-host-name  nicknames...

     Items are separated by any number of SPACE and/or TAB  char-
     acters.   The first item on a line is the host's IP address.
     The second entry is the host's  official  name.   Subsequent
     entries  on the same line are alternative names for the same
     machine, or "nicknames."  Nicknames  are  optional.   A  `#'
     indicates  the  beginning of a comment; characters up to the
     end of the line are not interpreted by routines that  search
     the file.

     Network addresses are written in the  conventional  "decimal
     dot"  notation  and  interpreted using the inet_addr routine
     from the Internet address  manipulation  library,  inet(3N).
     Host  names may contain any printable character other than a
     field delimiter,  NEWLINE,  or  comment  character.   It  is
     recommended that host names not contain `.' (dot).

EXAMPLES
     Here is a typical line from the hosts file:

          192.9.1.20        gaia                        # John Smith

SEE ALSO
     in.named(1M), gethostbyname(3N), inet(3N),  nsswitch.conf(4)
     resolv.conf(4),

NOTES
     /etc/inet/hosts is the official SVR4 name of the hosts file.
     The symbolic link /etc/hosts exists for BSD compatibility.