GETENT(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						 GETENT(1)

NAME

     getent -- get entries from administrative databases

SYNOPSIS

     getent database [key ...]
     getcap database [key ...]

DESCRIPTION

     The getent program retrieves and displays entries from the administrative database specified by database, using the lookup order specified in
     nsswitch.conf(5).	The display format for a given database is as per the ``traditional'' file format for that database.

     database may be one of:
	   Database	Display format
	   disktab	entry
	   ethers	address name
	   gettytab	entry
	   group	group:passwd:gid:[member[,member]...]
	   hosts	address name [alias ...]
	   netgroup	(host,user,domain) [...]
	   networks	name network [alias ...]
	   passwd	user:passwd:uid:gid:gecos:home_dir:shell
	   printcap	entry
	   protocols	name protocol [alias ...]
	   rpc		name number [alias ...]
	   services	name port/protocol [alias ...]
	   shells	/path/to/shell

     If one or more key arguments are provided, they will be looked up in database using the appropriate function.  For example, passwd supports a
     numeric UID or user name; hosts supports an IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or host name; and services supports a service name, service name/pro-
     tocol name, numeric port, or numeric port/protocol name.

     If no key is provided and database supports enumeration, all entries for database will be retrieved using the appropriate enumeration func-
     tion and printed.

     For cgetcap(3) style databases (disktab, printcap) specifying a key, lists the entry for that key, and specifying more arguments after the
     key are used as fields in that key, and only the values of the keys are returned.	For boolean keys true is returned if the key is found.	If
     a key is not found, then false is always returned.

DIAGNOSTICS

     getent exits 0 on success, 1 if there was an error in the command syntax, 2 if one of the specified key names was not found in database, or 3
     if there is no support for enumeration on database.

SEE ALSO

     cgetcap(3), disktab(5), ethers(5), gettytab(5), group(5), hosts(5), networks(5), nsswitch.conf(5), passwd(5), printcap(5), protocols(5),
     rpc(5), services(5), shells(5)

HISTORY

     A getent command appeared in NetBSD 3.0.  It was based on the command of the same name in Solaris and Linux.

BSD
								 October 11, 2011							       BSD