getent(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | EXIT STATUS | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

getent(1)                General Commands Manual               getent(1)

NAME         top

       getent - get entries from Name Service Switch libraries

SYNOPSIS         top

       getent [option]... database key...

DESCRIPTION         top

       The getent command displays entries from databases supported by
       the Name Service Switch libraries, which are configured in
       /etc/nsswitch.conf.  If one or more key arguments are provided,
       then only the entries that match the supplied keys will be
       displayed.  Otherwise, if no key is provided, all entries will be
       displayed (unless the database does not support enumeration).

       The database may be any of those supported by the GNU C Library,
       listed below:

       ahosts When no key is provided, use sethostent(3), gethostent(3),
              and endhostent(3) to enumerate the hosts database.  This
              is identical to using hosts(5).  When one or more key
              arguments are provided, pass each key in succession to
              getaddrinfo(3) with the address family AF_UNSPEC,
              enumerating each socket address structure returned.

       ahostsv4
              Same as ahosts, but use the address family AF_INET.

       ahostsv6
              Same as ahosts, but use the address family AF_INET6.  The
              call to getaddrinfo(3) in this case includes the
              AI_V4MAPPED flag.

       aliases
              When no key is provided, use setaliasent(3),
              getaliasent(3), and endaliasent(3) to enumerate the
              aliases database.  When one or more key arguments are
              provided, pass each key in succession to getaliasbyname(3)
              and display the result.

       ethers When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key
              in succession to ether_aton(3) and ether_hostton(3) until
              a result is obtained, and display the result.  Enumeration
              is not supported on ethers, so a key must be provided.

       group  When no key is provided, use setgrent(3), getgrent(3), and
              endgrent(3) to enumerate the group database.  When one or
              more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key to
              getgrgid(3) and each nonnumeric key to getgrnam(3) and
              display the result.

       gshadow
              When no key is provided, use setsgent(3), getsgent(3), and
              endsgent(3) to enumerate the gshadow database.  When one
              or more key arguments are provided, pass each key in
              succession to getsgnam(3) and display the result.

       hosts  When no key is provided, use sethostent(3), gethostent(3),
              and endhostent(3) to enumerate the hosts database.  When
              one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key to
              gethostbyaddr(3) or gethostbyname2(3), depending on
              whether a call to inet_pton(3) indicates that the key is
              an IPv6 or IPv4 address or not, and display the result.

       initgroups
              When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each key
              in succession to getgrouplist(3) and display the result.
              Enumeration is not supported on initgroups, so a key must
              be provided.

       netgroup
              When one key is provided, pass the key to setnetgrent(3)
              and, using getnetgrent(3) display the resulting string
              triple (hostname, username, domainname).  Alternatively,
              three keys may be provided, which are interpreted as the
              hostname, username, and domainname to match to a netgroup
              name via innetgr(3).  Enumeration is not supported on
              netgroup, so either one or three keys must be provided.

       networks
              When no key is provided, use setnetent(3), getnetent(3),
              and endnetent(3) to enumerate the networks database.  When
              one or more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric
              key to getnetbyaddr(3) and each nonnumeric key to
              getnetbyname(3) and display the result.

       passwd When no key is provided, use setpwent(3), getpwent(3), and
              endpwent(3) to enumerate the passwd database.  When one or
              more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key to
              getpwuid(3) and each nonnumeric key to getpwnam(3) and
              display the result.

       protocols
              When no key is provided, use setprotoent(3),
              getprotoent(3), and endprotoent(3) to enumerate the
              protocols database.  When one or more key arguments are
              provided, pass each numeric key to getprotobynumber(3) and
              each nonnumeric key to getprotobyname(3) and display the
              result.

       rpc    When no key is provided, use setrpcent(3), getrpcent(3),
              and endrpcent(3) to enumerate the rpc database.  When one
              or more key arguments are provided, pass each numeric key
              to getrpcbynumber(3) and each nonnumeric key to
              getrpcbyname(3) and display the result.

       services
              When no key is provided, use setservent(3), getservent(3),
              and endservent(3) to enumerate the services database.
              When one or more key arguments are provided, pass each
              numeric key to getservbynumber(3) and each nonnumeric key
              to getservbyname(3) and display the result.

       shadow When no key is provided, use setspent(3), getspent(3), and
              endspent(3) to enumerate the shadow database.  When one or
              more key arguments are provided, pass each key in
              succession to getspnam(3) and display the result.

OPTIONS         top

       --service service
       -s service
              Override all databases with the specified service.  (Since
              glibc 2.2.5.)

       --service database:service
       -s database:service
              Override only specified databases with the specified
              service.  The option may be used multiple times, but only
              the last service for each database will be used.  (Since
              glibc 2.4.)

       --no-idn
       -i     Disables IDN encoding in lookups for ahosts/getaddrinfo(3)
              (Since glibc-2.13.)

       --help
       -?     Print a usage summary and exit.

       --usage
              Print a short usage summary and exit.

       --version
       -V     Print the version number, license, and disclaimer of
              warranty for getent.

EXIT STATUS         top

       One of the following exit values can be returned by getent:

       0      Command completed successfully.

       1      Missing arguments, or database unknown.

       2      One or more supplied key could not be found in the
              database.

       3      Enumeration not supported on this database.

SEE ALSO         top

       nsswitch.conf(5)

COLOPHON         top

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Linux man-pages 6.9.1          2024-05-02                      getent(1)

Pages that refer to this page: groups(1)homectl(1)userdbctl(1)users(1)nsswitch.conf(5)passwd(5@@shadow-utils)nss-myhostname(8)nss-mymachines(8)nss-systemd(8)