hpux man page for hosts

hosts(4)						     Kernel Interfaces Manual							  hosts(4)

NAME
       hosts - host name data base

DESCRIPTION
       The file 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.

       This file contain all addresses for local interfaces that 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 to contain a few addresses of machines on the local network.

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

	      internet_address	 official_host_name   aliases

       The internet_address can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address specified in the conventional Internet dot notation.  See  inet(3N)	or  inet6(3N)  for
       more information on Internet address manipulation routines.

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

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

       instead of

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

       (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.

       Host names can contain any printable character other than a white space, newline, or comment character.

EXAMPLES
       See

AUTHOR
       was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.

SEE ALSO
       gethostent(3N), inet(3N), nsswitch.conf(4).

																	  hosts(4)