osf1 man page for ether_aton

ethers(3)						     Library Functions Manual							 ethers(3)

NAME
       ethers, ether_ntoa, ether_aton, ether_ntohost, ether_hostton, ether_line - Ethernet address mapping operations

SYNOPSIS
       #include <sys/types.h> #include <sys/socket.h> #include <net/if.h> #include <netinet/in.h> #include <netinet/if_ether.h>

       char * ether_ntoa(e)	 struct ether_addr *e;

       struct ether_addr * ether_aton(s)      char *s;

       ether_ntohost(hostname, e)      char *hostname;	    struct ether_addr *e;

       ether_hostton(hostname, e)      char *hostname;	    struct ether_addr *e;

       ether_line(l, e, hostname)      char *l;      struct ether_addr *e;	char *hostname;

   Arguments
       The ether_addr structure is defined in <netinet/if_ether.h>

DESCRIPTION
       These  routines	are  useful for mapping 48 bit Ethernet numbers to their ASCII representations or their corresponding host names, and vice
       versa.  The mapping is obtained from the /etc/ethers database; see ethers(4).

       The function ether_ntoa() converts a 48 bit Ethernet number pointed to by e to its standard ACSII representation; it returns a  pointer	to
       the ASCII string.  The representation is of the form:

       x : x : x :x : x : x

       Where  x  is a hexadecimal number between 0 and ff.  The function ether_aton() converts an ASCII string in the standard representation back
       to a 48 bit Ethernet number;  the function returns NULL if the string cannot be scanned successfully.

       The function ether_ntohost() maps an Ethernet number (pointed to by e ) to its associated hostname.  The string pointed to by hostname must
       be  long  enough  to hold the hostname and a NULL character.  The function returns zero upon success and non-zero upon failure.	Inversely,
       the function ether_hostton() maps a hostname string to its corresponding Ethernet number; the function modifies the Ethernet number pointed
       to by e.  The function also returns zero upon success and non-zero upon failure.

       The  function  ether_line()  scans  a  line  (pointed to by l) and sets the hostname and the Ethernet number (pointed to by e).	The string
       pointed to by hostname must be long enough to hold the hostname and a NULL character.  The function returns zero upon success and  non-zero
       upon failure.  The format of the scanned line is described by ethers(4).

FILES
       Database that maps Ethernet addresses to hostnames

RELATED INFORMATION
       Commands: rarpd(8)

       Files: packetfilter(7), ethers(4) delim off

																	 ethers(3)