1GETENT(1) User Commands GETENT(1)
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6 getent - get entries from Name Service Switch libraries
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9 getent [option]... database key...
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12 The getent command displays entries from databases supported by the
13 Name Service Switch libraries, which are configured in /etc/nss‐
14 witch.conf. If one or more key arguments are provided, then only the
15 entries that match the supplied keys will be displayed. Otherwise, if
16 no key is provided, all entries will be displayed (unless the database
17 does not support enumeration).
18 The database may be any of those supported by the GNU C Library, listed
20 below:
21 ahosts When no key is provided, use sethostent(3), gethostent(3),
23 and endhostent(3) to enumerate the hosts database. This
24 is identical to using hosts. When one or more key argu‐
25 ments are provided, pass each key in succession to getad‐
26 drinfo(3) with the address family AF_UNSPEC, enumerating
27 each socket address structure returned.
28 ahostsv4 Same as ahosts, but use the address family AF_INET.
30 ahostsv6 Same as ahosts, but use the address family AF_INET6. The
32 call to getaddrinfo(3) in this case includes the
33 AI_V4MAPPED flag.
34 aliases When no key is provided, use setaliasent(3), getal‐
36 iasent(3), and endaliasent(3) to enumerate the aliases
37 database. When one or more key arguments are provided,
38 pass each key in succession to getaliasbyname(3) and dis‐
39 play the result.
40 ethers When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key
42 in succession to ether_aton(3) and ether_hostton(3) until
43 a result is obtained, and display the result. Enumeration
44 is not supported on ethers, so a key must be provided.
45 group When no key is provided, use setgrent(3), getgrent(3), and
47 endgrent(3) to enumerate the group database. When one or
48 more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key to
49 getgrgid(3) and each nonnumeric key to getgrnam(3) and
50 display the result.
51 gshadow When no key is provided, use setsgent(3), getsgent(3), and
53 endsgent(3) to enumerate the gshadow database. When one
54 or more key arguments are provided, pass each key in suc‐
55 cession to getsgnam(3) and display the result.
56 hosts When no key is provided, use sethostent(3), gethostent(3),
58 and endhostent(3) to enumerate the hosts database. When
59 one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key to
60 gethostbyaddr(3) or gethostbyname2(3), depending on
61 whether a call to inet_pton(3) indicates that the key is
62 an IPv6 or IPv4 address or not, and display the result.
63 initgroups
65 When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key
66 in succession to getgrouplist(3) and display the result.
67 Enumeration is not supported on initgroups, so a key must
68 be provided.
69 netgroup When one key is provided, pass the key to setnetgrent(3)
71 and, using getnetgrent(3) display the resulting string
72 triple (hostname, username, domainname). Alternatively,
73 three keys may be provided, which are interpreted as the
74 hostname, username and domainname to match to a netgroup
75 name via innetgr(3). Enumeration is not supported on net‐
76 group, so either one or three keys must be provided.
77 networks When no key is provided, use setnetent(3), getnetent(3),
79 and endnetent(3) to enumerate the networks database. When
80 one or more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric
81 key to getnetbyaddr(3) and each nonnumeric key to getnet‐
82 byname(3) and display the result.
83 passwd When no key is provided, use setpwent(3), getpwent(3), and
85 endpwent(3) to enumerate the passwd database. When one or
86 more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key to
87 getpwuid(3) and each nonnumeric key to getpwnam(3) and
88 display the result.
89 protocols When no key is provided, use setprotoent(3), getpro‐
91 toent(3), and endprotoent(3) to enumerate the protocols
92 database. When one or more key arguments are provided,
93 pass each numeric key to getprotobynumber(3) and each non‐
94 numeric key to getprotobyname(3) and display the result.
95 rpc When no key is provided, use setrpcent(3), getrpcent(3),
97 and endrpcent(3) to enumerate the rpc database. When one
98 or more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key
99 to getrpcbynumber(3) and each nonnumeric key to getrpcby‐
100 name(3) and display the result.
101 services When no key is provided, use setservent(3), getservent(3),
103 and endservent(3) to enumerate the services database.
104 When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each
105 numeric key to getservbynumber(3) and each nonnumeric key
106 to getservbyname(3) and display the result.
107 shadow When no key is provided, use setspent(3), getspent(3), and
109 endspent(3) to enumerate the shadow database. When one or
110 more key arguments are provided, pass each key in succes‐
111 sion to getspnam(3) and display the result.
112
114 -s service, --service service
115 Override all databases with the specified service. (Since glibc
116 2.2.5.)
117 -s database:service, --service database:service
119 Override only specified databases with the specified service.
120 The option may be used multiple times, but only the last service
121 for each database will be used. (Since glibc 2.4.)
122 -i, --no-idn
124 Disables IDN encoding in lookups for ahosts/getaddrinfo(3)
125 (Since glibc-2.13.)
126 -?, --help
128 Print a usage summary and exit.
129 --usage
131 Print a short usage summary and exit.
132 -V, --version
134 Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of warranty
135 for getent.
136
138 One of the following exit values can be returned by getent:
139 0 Command completed successfully.
141 1 Missing arguments, or database unknown.
143 2 One or more supplied key could not be found in the data‐
145 base.
146 3 Enumeration not supported on this database.
148
150 nsswitch.conf(5)
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153 This page is part of release 4.15 of the Linux man-pages project. A
154 description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
155 latest version of this page, can be found at
156 https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
157Linux 2015-04-19 GETENT(1)