getent(1M) System Administration Commands getent(1M)
NAME
getent - get entries from administrative database
SYNOPSIS
getent database [key]...
DESCRIPTION
getent gets a list of entries from the administrative database specified by database. The information generally comes from one or more of
the sources that are specified for the database in /etc/nsswitch.conf.
database is the name of the database to be examined. This can be passwd, group, hosts, ipnodes, services, protocols, ethers, project, net-
works, or netmasks. For each of these databases, getent uses the appropriate library routines described in getpwnam(3C), getgrnam(3C),
gethostbyaddr(3NSL), gethostbyname(3NSL), getipnodebyaddr(3SOCKET), getipnodebyname(3SOCKET), getservbyname(3SOCKET), getprotoby-
name(3SOCKET), ethers(3SOCKET), getprojbyname(3PROJECT) and getnetbyname(3SOCKET), respectively.
Each key must be in a format appropriate for searching on the respective database. For example, it can be a username or numeric-uid for
passwd; hostname or IP address for hosts; or service, service/protocol, port, or port/proto for services.
getent prints out the database entries that match each of the supplied keys, one per line, in the format of the matching administrative
file: passwd(4), group(4), project(4), hosts(4), services(4), protocols(4), ethers(3SOCKET), networks(4), or netmasks(4). If no key is
given, all entries returned by the corresponding enumeration library routine, for example, getpwent() or gethostent(), are printed. Enumer-
ation is not supported on ipnodes.
Key Interpretation for passwd and group Databases
When getent is invoked with database set to passwd, each key value is processed as follows:
o If the key value consists only of numeric characters, getent assumes that the key value is a numeric user ID and searches the
user database for a matching user ID.
o If the user ID is not found in the user database or if the key value contains any non-numeric characters, getent assumes the key
value is a user name and searches the user database for a matching user name.
Similarly, when getent is invoked with database set to group, each key value is processed as follows:
o If the key value consists only of numeric characters, getent assumes that the key value is a numeric group ID and searches the
group database for a matching group ID.
o If the group ID is not found in the group database or if the key value contains any non-numeric characters, getent assumes the
key value is a group name and searches the group database for a matching group name.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
1 Command syntax was incorrect, an invalid option was used, or an internal error occurred.
2 At least one of the specified entry names was not found in the database.
3 There is no support for enumeration on this database.
FILES
/etc/nsswitch.conf name service switch configuration file
/etc/passwd password file
/etc/group group file
/etc/inet/hosts IPv4 and IPv6 host name database
/etc/services Internet services and aliases
/etc/project project file
/etc/protocols protocol name database
/etc/ethers Ethernet address to hostname database or domain
/etc/networks network name database
/etc/netmasks network mask database
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWcsu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
ethers(3SOCKET), getgrnam(3C), gethostbyaddr(3NSL), gethostbyname(3NSL), gethostent(3NSL), getipnodebyaddr(3SOCKET), getipnodeby-
name(3SOCKET), getnetbyname(3SOCKET), getprojbyname(3PROJECT), getprotobyname(3SOCKET), getpwnam(3C), getservbyname(3SOCKET), group(4),
hosts(4), netmasks(4), networks(4), nsswitch.conf(4), passwd(4), project(4), protocols(4), services(4), attributes(5)
SunOS 5.11 26 Mar 2007 getent(1M)