man > getent(1)

getent(1)                              General Commands Manual                             getent(1)

NAME
       getent - get entries from Name Service Switch libraries

SYNOPSIS
       getent [option]... database key...

DESCRIPTION
       The  getent  command displays entries from databases supported by the Name Service Switch li‐
       braries, which are configured in /etc/nsswitch.conf.  If one or more key arguments  are  pro‐
       vided,  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  enu‐
       meration).

       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 enu‐
              merate the hosts database.  This is identical to using hosts(5).  When one or more key
              arguments are provided, pass each key in succession to getaddrinfo(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), getaliasent(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 display 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
              succession to getsgnam(3) and display the result.

       hosts  When no key is provided, use sethostent(3), gethostent(3), and endhostent(3)  to  enu‐
              merate 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  getgrou‐
              plist(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 do‐
              mainname to match to a netgroup name via innetgr(3).  Enumeration is not supported  on
              netgroup, 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 getnetbyname(3) and display the re‐
              sult.

       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),  getprotoent(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 nonnumeric 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 getrpcbyname(3) and  display  the  re‐
              sult.

       services
              When  no  key is provided, use setservent(3), getservent(3), and endservent(3) to enu‐
              merate 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 dis‐
              play 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
              succession to getspnam(3) and display the result.

OPTIONS
       --service service
       -s service
              Override all databases with the specified service.  (Since glibc 2.2.5.)

       --service database:service
       -s database:service
              Override  only specified databases with the specified service.  The option may be used
              multiple times, but only the last service for each  database  will  be  used.   (Since
              glibc 2.4.)

       --no-idn
       -i     Disables IDN encoding in lookups for ahosts/getaddrinfo(3) (Since glibc-2.13.)

       --help
       -?     Print a usage summary and exit.

       --usage
              Print a short usage summary and exit.

       --version
       -V     Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of warranty for getent.

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 database.

       3      Enumeration not supported on this database.

SEE ALSO
       nsswitch.conf(5)

Linux man-pages 6.7                          2023-11-01                                    getent(1)