Manual Pages for UNIX Operating System command usage for man getent

System Administration Commands                         getent(1M)



NAME
     getent - get entries from administrative database

SYNOPSIS
     getent database [key]...


DESCRIPTION
     getent gets a list of entries from the administrative  data-
     base  specified by database. The information generally comes
     from one or more of the sources that are specified  for  the
     database in /etc/nsswitch.conf.


     database is the name of the database to  be  examined.  This
     can  be  passwd, group, hosts, ipnodes, services, protocols,
     ethers, project, networks, or netmasks. For  each  of  these
     databases,  getent  uses  the  appropriate  library routines
     described       in        getpwnam(3C),        getgrnam(3C),
     gethostbyaddr(3NSL),                    gethostbyname(3NSL),
     getipnodebyaddr(3SOCKET),          getipnodebyname(3SOCKET),
     getservbyname(3SOCKET),             getprotobyname(3SOCKET),
     ethers(3SOCKET),         getprojbyname(3PROJECT)         and
     getnetbyname(3SOCKET), respectively.


     Each key must be in a format appropriate  for  searching  on
     the  respective  database. For example, it can be a username
     or numeric-uid for passwd; hostname or IP address for hosts;
     or  service,  service/protocol, port, or port/proto for ser-
     vices.


     getent prints out the database entries that  match  each  of
     the supplied keys, one per line, in the format of the match-
     ing administrative file:  passwd(4),  group(4),  project(4),
     hosts(4), services(4), protocols(4), ethers(4), networks(4),
     or netmasks(4). If no key is given, all entries returned  by
     the  corresponding enumeration library routine, for example,
     getpwent() or gethostent(), are printed. Enumeration is  not
     supported on ipnodes, ethers, and netmasks.

  Key Interpretation for passwd and group Databases
     When getent is invoked with database set to passwd, each key
     value is processed as follows:

         o    If the key value consists only of  numeric  charac-
              ters,  getent  assumes  that  the  key  value  is a
              numeric user ID and searches the user database  for
              a matching user ID.

         o    If the user ID is not found in the user database or



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System Administration Commands                         getent(1M)



              if  the  key value contains any non-numeric charac-
              ters, getent assumes the key value is a  user  name
              and  searches the user database for a matching user
              name.


     Similarly, when getent  is  invoked  with  database  set  to
     group, each key value is processed as follows:

         o    If the key value consists only of  numeric  charac-
              ters,  getent  assumes  that  the  key  value  is a
              numeric group ID and searches  the  group  database
              for a matching group ID.

         o    If the group ID is not found in the group  database
              or  if the key value contains any non-numeric char-
              acters, getent assumes the key  value  is  a  group
              name and searches the group database for a matching
              group name.

EXIT STATUS
     The following exit values are returned:

     0    Successful completion.


     1    Command syntax was incorrect,  an  invalid  option  was
          used, or an internal error occurred.


     2    At least one of the specified entry names was not found
          in the database.


     3    There is no support for enumeration on this database.


FILES
     /etc/nsswitch.conf    name service switch configuration file


     /etc/passwd           password file


     /etc/group            group file


     /etc/inet/hosts       IPv4 and IPv6 host name database


     /etc/services         Internet services and aliases




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System Administration Commands                         getent(1M)



     /etc/project          project file


     /etc/protocols        protocol name database


     /etc/ethers           Ethernet address to hostname  database
                           or domain


     /etc/networks         network name database


     /etc/netmasks         network mask database


ATTRIBUTES
     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:



     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWcs                      |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO
     ethers(3SOCKET),     getgrnam(3C),      gethostbyaddr(3NSL),
     gethostbyname(3NSL),                       gethostent(3NSL),
     getipnodebyaddr(3SOCKET),          getipnodebyname(3SOCKET),
     getnetbyname(3SOCKET),              getprojbyname(3PROJECT),
     getprotobyname(3SOCKET),                       getpwnam(3C),
     getservbyname(3SOCKET),  ethers(4), group(4), hosts(4), net-
     masks(4),  networks(4),  nsswitch.conf(4),  passwd(4),  pro-
     ject(4), protocols(4), services(4), attributes(5)

















SunOS 5.11          Last change: 17 Nov 2009                    3