NAME
getent —
get entries from administrative
database
SYNOPSIS
getent |
database [key ...] |
DESCRIPTION
The getent program retrieves and displays
entries from the administrative database specified by
database. The order in which entries are looked up is
defined by the specific database (for example, the lookup order for the
“hosts” database is determined by
resolv.conf(5)). The display format for a given
database is as per the “traditional”
file format for that database.
database may be one of:
| Database | Display format |
| ethers | address name |
| group | group:passwd:gid:[member[,member]...] |
| hosts | address name [alias ...] |
| passwd | user:passwd:uid:gid:gecos:home_dir:shell |
| protocols | name protocol [alias ...] |
| rpc | name number [alias ...] |
| services | name port/protocol [alias ...] |
| shells | /path/to/shell |
If one or more key arguments are provided,
they will be looked up in database using the
appropriate function. For example, passwd supports a
numeric UID or user name; hosts supports an IPv4
address, IPv6 address, or host name; and services
supports a service name, service name/protocol name, numeric port, or
numeric port/protocol name.
If no key is provided and database supports enumeration, all entries for database will be retrieved using the appropriate enumeration function and printed.
EXIT STATUS
The getent utility exits with one of the
following values:
- 0
- Success.
- 1
- There was an error in the command syntax.
- 2
- One of the specified key names was not found in database.
- 3
- There is no support for enumeration on database.
SEE ALSO
ethers(5), group(5), hosts(5), passwd(5), protocols(5), rpc(5), services(5), shells(5)
HISTORY
A getent command first appeared in
OpenBSD 3.9. It was based on the command of the same
name in Solaris and Linux.