ethers(3SOCKET) Sockets Library Functions ethers(3SOCKET)
NAME
ethers, ether_ntoa, ether_aton, ether_ntohost, ether_hostton, ether_line - Ethernet address mapping operations
SYNOPSIS
cc [ flag ... ] file ... -lsocket -lnsl [ library ... ]
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/ethernet.h>
char *ether_ntoa(const struct ether_addr *e);
struct ether_addr *ether_aton(const char *s);
int ether_ntohost(char *hostname, const struct ether_addr *e);
int ether_hostton(const char *hostname, struct ether_addr *e);
int ether_line(const char *l, struct ether_addr *e, char *hostname);
DESCRIPTION
These routines are useful for mapping 48 bit Ethernet numbers to their ASCII representations or their corresponding host names, and vice
versa.
The function ether_ntoa() converts a 48 bit Ethernet number pointed to by e to its standard ASCII 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. In order to do the mapping, both these functions
may lookup one or more of the following sources: the ethers file, the NIS maps ethers.byname and ethers.byaddr and the NIS+ table ethers.
The sources and their lookup order are specified in the /etc/nsswitch.conf file. See nsswitch.conf(4) for details.
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
/etc/ethers Ethernet address to hostname database or domain
/etc/nsswitch.conf configuration file for the name service switch
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|MT-Level |MT-Safe |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
ethers(4), nsswitch.conf(4), attributes(5)
SunOS 5.10 5 Apr 2004 ethers(3SOCKET)
