NAME gethostent, gethostbyaddr, gethostbyname, sethostent, endhostent - get network host entry SYNOPSIS #include #include #include struct hostent *gethostbyname(name) char *name; struct hostent *gethostbyaddr(addr, len, type) char *addr; int len, type; DESCRIPTION gethostbyname and gethostbyaddr() each return a pointer to an object with the following structure containing the broken-out fields of a line in the network host data base, /etc/hosts. In the case of gethostbyaddr(), addr is a pointer to the binary format address of length len (not a character string). struct hostent { char *h_name; /* official name of host */ char **h_aliases; /* alias list */ int h_addrtype; /* address type */ int h_length; /* length of address */ char **h_addr_list; /* list of addresses from name server */ }; The members of this structure are: h_name Official name of the host. h_aliases A zero terminated array of alternate names for the host. h_addrtype The type of address being returned; currently always AF_INET. h_length The length, in bytes, of the address. h_addr_list A pointer to a list of network addresses for the named host. Host addresses are returned in network byte order. gethostbyname() and gethostbyaddr() sequentially search from the beginning of the file until a matching host name or host address is found, or until end-of-file is encountered. Host addresses are supplied in network order. FILES /etc/hosts SEE ALSO hosts(5), ypserv(8) DIAGNOSTICS A NULL pointer is returned on end-of-file or error. BUGS All information is contained in a static area so it must be copied if it is to be saved. Only the Internet address for- mat is currently understood. Sun Release 4.1 Last change: 7 September 1988 2