GETENT(1) User Commands GETENT(1)
NAME
getent - get entries from Name Service Switch libraries
SYNOPSIS
getent database [key ...]
DESCRIPTION
The getent command displays entries from databases supported by the
Name Service Switch libraries, which are configured in /etc/nss-
witch.conf. If one or more key arguments are provided, then only the
entries that match the supplied keys will be displayed. Otherwise, if
no key is provided, all entries will be displayed (unless the database
does not support enumeration).
The database may be any of those supported by the GNU C Library, listed
below:
ahosts When no key is provided, use sethostent(3), gethostent(3),
and endhostent(3) to enumerate the hosts database. This
is identical to using hosts. When one or more key argu-
ments are provided, pass each key in succession to getad-
drinfo(3) with the address family AF_UNSPEC, enumerating
each socket address structure returned.
ahostsv4 Same as ahosts, but use the address family AF_INET.
ahostsv6 Same as ahosts, but use the address family AF_INET6. The
call to getaddrinfo(3) in this case includes the
AI_V4MAPPED flag.
aliases When no key is provided, use setaliasent(3), getal-
iasent(3), and endaliasent(3) to enumerate the aliases
database. When one or more key arguments are provided,
pass each key in succession to getaliasbyname(3) and dis-
play the result.
ethers When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key
in succession to ether_aton(3) and ether_hostton(3) until
a result is obtained, and display the result. Enumeration
is not supported on ethers, so a key must be provided.
group When no key is provided, use setgrent(3), getgrent(3), and
endgrent(3) to enumerate the group database. When one or
more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key to
getgrgid(3) and each nonnumeric key to getgrnam(3) and
display the result.
gshadow When no key is provided, use setsgent(3), getsgent(3), and
endsgent(3) to enumerate the gshadow database. When one
or more key arguments are provided, pass each key in suc-
cession to getsgnam(3) and display the result.
hosts When no key is provided, use sethostent(3), gethostent(3),
and endhostent(3) to enumerate the hosts database. When
one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key to
gethostbyaddr(3) or gethostbyname2(3), depending on
whether a call to inet_pton(3) indicates that the key is
an IPv6 or IPv4 address or not, and display the result.
initgroups
When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key
in succession to getgrouplist(3) and display the result.
Enumeration is not supported on initgroups, so a key must
be provided.
netgroup When one key is provided, pass the key to setnetgrent(3)
and, using getnetgrent(3) display the resulting string
triple (hostname, username, domainname). Alternatively,
three keys may be provided, which are interpreted as the
hostname, username and domainname to match to a netgroup
name via innetgr(3). Enumeration is not supported on net-
group, so either one or three keys must be provided.
networks When no key is provided, use setnetent(3), getnetent(3),
and endnetent(3) to enumerate the networks database. When
one or more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric
key to getnetbyaddr(3) and each nonnumeric key to getnet-
byname(3) and display the result.
passwd When no key is provided, use setpwent(3), getpwent(3), and
endpwent(3) to enumerate the passwd database. When one or
more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key to
getpwuid(3) and each nonnumeric key to getpwnam(3) and
display the result.
protocols When no key is provided, use setprotoent(3), getpro-
toent(3), and endprotoent(3) to enumerate the protocols
database. When one or more key arguments are provided,
pass each numeric key to getprotobynumber(3) and each non-
numeric key to getprotobyname(3) and display the result.
rpc When no key is provided, use setrpcent(3), getrpcent(3),
and endrpcent(3) to enumerate the rpc database. When one
or more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key
to getrpcbynumber(3) and each nonnumeric key to getrpcby-
name(3) and display the result.
services When no key is provided, use setservent(3), getservent(3),
and endservent(3) to enumerate the services database.
When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each
numeric key to getservbynumber(3) and each nonnumeric key
to getservbyname(3) and display the result.
shadow When no key is provided, use setspent(3), getspent(3), and
endspent(3) to enumerate the shadow database. When one or
more key arguments are provided, pass each key in succes-
sion to getspnam(3) and display the result.
EXIT STATUS
One of the following exit values can be returned by getent:
0 Command completed successfully.
1 Missing arguments, or database unknown.
2 One or more supplied key could not be found in the data-
base.
3 Enumeration not supported on this database.
SEE ALSO
nsswitch.conf(5)
COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.53 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux 2013-03-15 GETENT(1)