networks(5) BSD File Formats Manual networks(5)
NAME
networks -- network name data base
DESCRIPTION
The networks file contains information regarding the known networks which
comprise the DARPA Internet. For each network a single line should be
present with the following information:
official network name
network number
aliases
Items are separated by any number of blanks and/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 data base 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 number may be specified in the conventional ``.'' (dot) notation
using the inet_network(3) routine from the Internet address manipulation
library, inet(3). Network names may contain any printable character
other than a field delimiter, newline, or comment character.
INTERACTION WITH DIRECTORY SERVICES
Processes generally find network records using one of the getnetent(3)
family of functions. On Mac OS X, these functions interact with the
DirectoryService(8) daemon, which reads the /etc/networks file as well as
searching other directory information services to determine network name
and address information.
FILES
/etc/networks
SEE ALSO
getnetent(3), DirectoryService(8)
HISTORY
The networks file format appeared in 4.2BSD.
4.2 Berkeley Distribution June 5, 1993 4.2 Berkeley Distribution
Mac OS X 10.8 - Generated Sat Sep 1 14:03:19 CDT 2012