# phpman > man > networks(5)

[NETWORKS(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/NETWORKS/5/markdown)                          Linux System Administration                         [NETWORKS(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/NETWORKS/5/markdown)



## NAME
       networks - network name information

## DESCRIPTION
       The file _/etc/networks_ is a plain ASCII file that describes known DARPA networks and symbolic
       names for these networks.  Each line represents a network and has the following structure:

              _name_ _number_ _aliases_ _..._

       where the fields are delimited by spaces or tabs.  Empty lines are ignored.  The hash charac‐
       ter  (**#**) indicates the start of a comment: this character, and the remaining characters up to
       the end of the current line, are ignored by library functions that process the file.

       The field descriptions are:

       _name_   The symbolic name for the network.  Network names can contain any printable characters
              except white-space characters or the comment character.

       _number_ The  official number for this network in numbers-and-dots notation (see [**inet**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/inet/3/markdown)).  The
              trailing ".0" (for the host component of the network address) may be omitted.

       _aliases_
              Optional aliases for the network.

       This file is read by the [**route**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/route/8/markdown) and [**netstat**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/netstat/8/markdown) utilities.  Only Class A, B  or  C  networks
       are  supported,  partitioned  networks  (i.e., network/26 or network/28) are not supported by
       this file.

## FILES
       _/etc/networks_
              The networks definition file.

## SEE ALSO
       [**getnetbyaddr**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getnetbyaddr/3/markdown), [**getnetbyname**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getnetbyname/3/markdown), [**getnetent**(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getnetent/3/markdown), [**netstat**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/netstat/8/markdown), [**route**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/route/8/markdown)

## COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 5.10 of the Linux  _man-pages_  project.   A  description  of  the
       project,  information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found
       at <https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/>.



GNU/Linux                                    2008-09-04                                  [NETWORKS(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/NETWORKS/5/markdown)