networks(4) File Formats networks(4)NAMEnetworks - network name database
SYNOPSIS
/etc/inet/networks
/etc/networks
DESCRIPTION
The networks file is a local source of information regarding the net‐
works which comprise the Internet. The networks file can be used in
conjunction with, or instead of, other networks sources, including the
NIS maps networks.byname and networks.byaddr and the NIS+ table net‐
works. Programs use the getnetbyname(3SOCKET) routines to access this
information.
The network file has a single line for each network, with the following
information:
official-network-name network-number aliases
Items are separated by any number of SPACE or TAB characters. A `#'
indicates the beginning of a comment. Characters up to the end of the
line are not interpreted by routines which search the file. This file
is normally created from the official network database maintained at
the Network Information Control Center (NIC), though local changes may
be required to bring it up to date regarding unofficial aliases and/or
unknown networks.
Network numbers may be specified in the conventional dot (`.') notation
using the inet_network routine from the Internet address manipulation
library, inet(7P). Network names may contain any printable character
other than a field delimiter, NEWLINE, or comment character.
SEE ALSOgetnetbyaddr(3SOCKET), getnetbyname(3SOCKET), inet(3SOCKET), nss‐
witch.conf(4), inet(7P)NOTES
The official SVR4 name of the networks file is /etc/inet/networks. The
symbolic link /etc/networks exists for BSD compatibility.
The network number in networks database is the host address shifted to
the right by the number of 0 bits in the address mask. For example, for
the address 24.132.47.86 that has a mask of fffffe00, its network num‐
ber is 803351. This is obtained when the address is shifted right by 9
bits. The address maps to 12.66.23. The trailing 0 bits should not be
specified. The network number here is different from that described in
netmasks(4). For this example, the entry in netmasks would be
24.132.46.0 fffffe00.
SunOS 5.10 17 Jan 2002 networks(4)
