{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "hostnamectl",
    "section": "1",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/hostnamectl/1/json",
    "generated": "2026-06-15T14:37:48Z",
    "synopsis": "hostnamectl [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND}",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "hostnamectl - Control the system hostname\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "hostnamectl [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND}\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "hostnamectl may be used to query and change the system hostname and related settings.\n\nsystemd-hostnamed.service(8) and this tool distinguish three different hostnames: the\nhigh-level \"pretty\" hostname which might include all kinds of special characters (e.g.\n\"Lennart's Laptop\"), the \"static\" hostname which is the user-configured hostname (e.g.\n\"lennarts-laptop\"), and the transient hostname which is a fallback value received from\nnetwork configuration (e.g. \"node12345678\"). If a static hostname is set to a valid value,\nthen the transient hostname is not used.\n\nNote that the pretty hostname has little restrictions on the characters and length used,\nwhile the static and transient hostnames are limited to the usually accepted characters of\nInternet domain names, and 64 characters at maximum (the latter being a Linux limitation).\n\nUse systemd-firstboot(1) to initialize the system hostname for mounted (but not booted)\nsystem images.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "COMMANDS": {
            "content": "The following commands are understood:\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "status",
                    "content": "Show system hostname and related information. If no command is specified, this is the\nimplied default.\n\nhostname [NAME]\nIf no argument is given, print the system hostname. If an optional argument NAME is\nprovided then the command changes the system hostname to NAME. By default, this will\nalter the pretty, the static, and the transient hostname alike; however, if one or more\nof --static, --transient, --pretty are used, only the selected hostnames are changed. If\nthe pretty hostname is being set, and static or transient are being set as well, the\nspecified hostname will be simplified in regards to the character set used before the\nlatter are updated. This is done by removing special characters and spaces. This ensures\nthat the pretty and the static hostname are always closely related while still following\nthe validity rules of the specific name. This simplification of the hostname string is\nnot done if only the transient and/or static hostnames are set, and the pretty hostname\nis left untouched.\n\nThe static and transient hostnames must each be either a single DNS label (a string\ncomposed of 7-bit ASCII lower-case characters and no spaces or dots, limited to the\nformat allowed for DNS domain name labels), or a sequence of such labels separated by\nsingle dots that forms a valid DNS FQDN. The hostname must be at most 64 characters,\nwhich is a Linux limitation (DNS allows longer names).\n\nicon-name [NAME]\nIf no argument is given, print the icon name of the system. If an optional argument NAME\nis provided then the command changes the icon name to NAME. The icon name is used by some\ngraphical applications to visualize this host. The icon name should follow the Icon\nNaming Specification[1].\n\nchassis [TYPE]\nIf no argument is given, print the chassis type. If an optional argument TYPE is provided\nthen the command changes the chassis type to TYPE. The chassis type is used by some\ngraphical applications to visualize the host or alter user interaction. Currently, the\nfollowing chassis types are defined: \"desktop\", \"laptop\", \"convertible\", \"server\",\n\"tablet\", \"handset\", \"watch\", \"embedded\", as well as the special chassis types \"vm\" and\n\"container\" for virtualized systems that lack an immediate physical chassis.\n\ndeployment [ENVIRONMENT]\nIf no argument is given, print the deployment environment. If an optional argument\nENVIRONMENT is provided then the command changes the deployment environment to\nENVIRONMENT. Argument ENVIRONMENT must be a single word without any control characters.\nOne of the following is suggested: \"development\", \"integration\", \"staging\", \"production\".\n\nlocation [LOCATION]\nIf no argument is given, print the location string for the system. If an optional\nargument LOCATION is provided then the command changes the location string for the system\nto LOCATION. Argument LOCATION should be a human-friendly, free-form string describing\nthe physical location of the system, if it is known and applicable. This may be as\ngeneric as \"Berlin, Germany\" or as specific as \"Left Rack, 2nd Shelf\".\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "The following options are understood:\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "--no-ask-password",
                    "content": "Do not query the user for authentication for privileged operations.\n\n--static, --transient, --pretty\nIf status is invoked (or no explicit command is given) and one of these switches is\nspecified, hostnamectl will print out just this selected hostname.\n\nIf used with set-hostname, only the selected hostname(s) will be updated. When more than\none of these switches are specified, all the specified hostnames will be updated.\n",
                    "long": "--no-ask-password"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-H --host=",
                    "content": "Execute the operation remotely. Specify a hostname, or a username and hostname separated\nby \"@\", to connect to. The hostname may optionally be suffixed by a port ssh is listening\non, separated by \":\", and then a container name, separated by \"/\", which connects\ndirectly to a specific container on the specified host. This will use SSH to talk to the\nremote machine manager instance. Container names may be enumerated with machinectl -H\nHOST. Put IPv6 addresses in brackets.\n",
                    "flag": "-H"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-M --machine=",
                    "content": "Execute operation on a local container. Specify a container name to connect to,\noptionally prefixed by a user name to connect as and a separating \"@\" character. If the\nspecial string \".host\" is used in place of the container name, a connection to the local\nsystem is made (which is useful to connect to a specific user's user bus: \"--user\n--machine=lennart@.host\"). If the \"@\" syntax is not used, the connection is made as root\nuser. If the \"@\" syntax is used either the left hand side or the right hand side may be\nomitted (but not both) in which case the local user name and \".host\" are implied.\n",
                    "flag": "-M"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-h --help",
                    "content": "Print a short help text and exit.\n",
                    "flag": "-h",
                    "long": "--help"
                },
                {
                    "name": "--version",
                    "content": "Print a short version string and exit.\n\n--json=MODE\nShows output formatted as JSON. Expects one of \"short\" (for the shortest possible output\nwithout any redundant whitespace or line breaks), \"pretty\" (for a pretty version of the\nsame, with indentation and line breaks) or \"off\" (to turn off JSON output, the default).\n",
                    "long": "--version"
                }
            ]
        },
        "EXIT STATUS": {
            "content": "On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "systemd(1), hostname(1), hostname(5), machine-info(5), systemctl(1), systemd-\nhostnamed.service(8), systemd-firstboot(1)\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "NOTES": {
            "content": "1. Icon Naming Specification\nhttp://standards.freedesktop.org/icon-naming-spec/icon-naming-spec-latest.html\n\n\n\nsystemd 249                                                                           HOSTNAMECTL(1)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "hostnamectl - Control the system hostname",
    "flags": [
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--no-ask-password",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Do not query the user for authentication for privileged operations. --static, --transient, --pretty If status is invoked (or no explicit command is given) and one of these switches is specified, hostnamectl will print out just this selected hostname. If used with set-hostname, only the selected hostname(s) will be updated. When more than one of these switches are specified, all the specified hostnames will be updated."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-H",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Execute the operation remotely. Specify a hostname, or a username and hostname separated by \"@\", to connect to. The hostname may optionally be suffixed by a port ssh is listening on, separated by \":\", and then a container name, separated by \"/\", which connects directly to a specific container on the specified host. This will use SSH to talk to the remote machine manager instance. Container names may be enumerated with machinectl -H HOST. Put IPv6 addresses in brackets."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-M",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Execute operation on a local container. Specify a container name to connect to, optionally prefixed by a user name to connect as and a separating \"@\" character. If the special string \".host\" is used in place of the container name, a connection to the local system is made (which is useful to connect to a specific user's user bus: \"--user --machine=lennart@.host\"). If the \"@\" syntax is not used, the connection is made as root user. If the \"@\" syntax is used either the left hand side or the right hand side may be omitted (but not both) in which case the local user name and \".host\" are implied."
        },
        {
            "flag": "-h",
            "long": "--help",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Print a short help text and exit."
        },
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": "--version",
            "arg": null,
            "description": "Print a short version string and exit. --json=MODE Shows output formatted as JSON. Expects one of \"short\" (for the shortest possible output without any redundant whitespace or line breaks), \"pretty\" (for a pretty version of the same, with indentation and line breaks) or \"off\" (to turn off JSON output, the default)."
        }
    ],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "systemd",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemd/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "hostname",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/hostname/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "hostname",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/hostname/5/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "machine-info",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/machine-info/5/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "systemctl",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemctl/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "hostnamed.service",
            "section": "8",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/hostnamed.service/8/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "systemd-firstboot",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/systemd-firstboot/1/json"
        }
    ],
    "tldr": {
        "source": "official",
        "description": "Get or set the hostname of the computer.",
        "examples": [
            {
                "description": "Get the hostname of the computer",
                "command": "hostnamectl"
            },
            {
                "description": "Set the hostname of the computer",
                "command": "sudo hostnamectl set-hostname \"{{hostname}}\""
            },
            {
                "description": "Set a pretty hostname for the computer",
                "command": "sudo hostnamectl set-hostname --static \"{{hostname.example.com}}\" && sudo hostnamectl set-hostname --pretty \"{{hostname}}\""
            },
            {
                "description": "Reset hostname to its default value",
                "command": "sudo hostnamectl set-hostname --pretty \"\""
            }
        ]
    }
}