ETHER_ATON(3)						     Linux Programmer's Manual						     ETHER_ATON(3)

NAME

       ether_aton, ether_ntoa, ether_ntohost, ether_hosttonn, ether_line, ether_ntoa_r, ether_aton_r - Ethernet address manipulation routines

SYNOPSIS

       #include <netinet/ether.h>

       char *
       ether_ntoa(const struct ether_addr *addr);

       struct ether_addr *
       ether_aton(const char *asc);

       int
       ether_ntohost(char *hostname, const struct ether_addr *addr);

       int
       ether_hostton(const char *hostname, struct ether_addr *addr);

       int
       ether_line(const char *line, struct ether_addr *addr,
	   char *hostname);

       /* GNU extensions */
       char *
       ether_ntoa_r(const struct ether_addr *addr, char *buf);

       struct ether_addr *
       ether_aton_r(const char *asc, struct ether_addr *addr);

DESCRIPTION

       ether_aton()  converts  the  48-bit  Ethernet host address asc from the standard hex-digits-and-colons notation into binary data in network
       byte order and returns a pointer to it in a statically allocated buffer, which subsequent calls will overwrite. ether_aton returns NULL	if
       the address is invalid.

       The ether_ntoa() function converts the Ethernet host address addr given in network byte order to a string in standard hex-digits-and-colons
       notation, omitting leading zeroes.  The string is returned in a statically allocated buffer, which subsequent calls will overwrite.

       The ether_ntohost() function maps an Ethernet address to the corresponding hostname in /etc/ethers and returns non-zero	if  it	cannot	be
       found.

       The  ether_hostton()  function  maps  a	hostname to the corresponding Ethernet address in /etc/ethers and returns non-zero if it cannot be
       found.

       The ether_line() function parses a line in /etc/ethers format (ethernet address followed by whitespace followed by hostname; '#' introduces
       a  comment) and returns an address and hostname pair, or non-zero if it cannot be parsed.  The buffer pointed at by hostname must be suffi-
       ciently long, e.g., have the same length as line.

       The functions ether_ntoa_r and ether_aton_r are re-entrant threadsafe versions of ether_ntoa and ether_aton respectively, and  do  not  use
       static buffers.

       The structure ether_addr is defined in net/ethernet.h as:

	      struct ether_addr {
		u_int8_t ether_addr_octet[6];
	      }

BUGS

       The glibc 2.2.5 implementation of ether_line() is broken.

CONFORMING TO

       BSD 4.3, SunOS

SEE ALSO

       ethers(5)

BSD
								    2002-07-20							     ETHER_ATON(3)