getent(1) [linux man page]
GETENT(1) Debian GNU/Linux GETENT(1) NAME
getent - get entries from administrative database SYNOPSIS
getent database [key ...] DESCRIPTION
The getent program gathers entries from the specified administrative database using the specified search keys. Where database is one of passwd, group, hosts, services, protocols, or networks. EXIT VALUES
The getent command exits with the following values: 0 Success 1 Unknown database 2 Key not found in database 3 Database does not support enumeration AUTHOR
getent was written by Thorsten Kukuk for the GNU C Library. This man page was written by Joel Klecker <espy@debian.org> for the Debian GNU/Linux system. 3rd Berkeley Distribution lenny GETENT(1)
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getent(1M) 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 database 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, net- works, 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), getprotoby- name(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 services. getent prints out the database entries that match each of the supplied keys, one per line, in the format of the matching administrative file: passwd(4), group(4), project(4), hosts(4), services(4), protocols(4), ethers(3SOCKET), 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. Enumer- ation is not supported on ipnodes. 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 characters, 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 if the key value contains any non-numeric characters, 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 characters, 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 characters, 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 /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 attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Availability |SUNWcsu | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
ethers(3SOCKET), getgrnam(3C), gethostbyaddr(3NSL), gethostbyname(3NSL), gethostent(3NSL), getipnodebyaddr(3SOCKET), getipnodeby- name(3SOCKET), getnetbyname(3SOCKET), getprojbyname(3PROJECT), getprotobyname(3SOCKET), getpwnam(3C), getservbyname(3SOCKET), group(4), hosts(4), netmasks(4), networks(4), nsswitch.conf(4), passwd(4), project(4), protocols(4), services(4), attributes(5) SunOS 5.11 26 Mar 2007 getent(1M)