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hostname(1) — Linux manual page

NAME \| SYNOPSIS \| DESCRIPTION \| OPTIONS \| FILES \| AUTHOR \| COLOPHON

HOSTNAME(1)        Linux System Administrator's Manual       HOSTNAME(1)

NAME top

       hostname - show or set the system's host name
       dnsdomainname - show the system's DNS domain name
       domainname - show or set the system's NIS/YP domain name
       nisdomainname - show or set system's NIS/YP domain name
       nodename - show or set the system's DECnet node name
       ypdomainname - show or set the system's NIS/YP domain name

SYNOPSIS top

       hostname [-v] [-s|--short]

       hostname [-v] [-a|--alias] [-d|--domain] [-f|--fqdn|--long]
       [-i|--ip-address]

       hostname [-v] [-y|--yp|--nis] [-n|--node]

       hostname [-v] [-F filename|--file filename] [newname]

       domainname [-v] [-F filename|--file filename] [newname]

       nodename [-v] [-F filename|--file filename] [newname]

       hostname [-v|--verbose] [-h|--help] [-V|--version]

       dnsdomainname [-v]
       nisdomainname [-v]
       ypdomainname [-v]

DESCRIPTION top

       Hostname is the program that is used to either set or display the
       current host, domain or node name of the system.  These names are
       used by many of the networking programs to identify the machine.
       The domain name is also used by NIS/YP.

   GET NAME
       When called without any arguments, the program displays the
       current names:

       hostname will print the name of the system as returned by the
       gethostname(2) function.

       domainname, nisdomainname, ypdomainname will print the name of
       the system as returned by the getdomainname(2) function. This is
       also known as the YP/NIS domain name of the system.

       nodename will print the DECnet node name of the system as
       returned by the getnodename(2) function.

       dnsdomainname will print the domain part of the FQDN (Fully
       Qualified Domain Name). The complete FQDN of the system is
       returned with hostname --fqdn.

   SET NAME
       When called with one argument or with the --file option, the
       commands set the host name, the NIS/YP domain name or the node
       name.

       Note, that only the super-user can change the names.

       It is not possible to set the FQDN or the DNS domain name with
       the dnsdomainname command (see THE FQDN below).

       The host name is usually set once at system startup by reading
       the contents of a file which contains the host name, e.g.
       /etc/hostname).

   THE FQDN
       You can't change the FQDN (as returned by hostname --fqdn) or the
       DNS domain name (as returned by dnsdomainname) with this command.
       The FQDN of the system is the name that the resolver(3) returns
       for the host name.

       Technically: The FQDN is the canonical name returned by
       gethostbyname2(2) when resolving the result of the gethostname(2)
       name. The DNS domain name is the part after the first dot.

       Therefore it depends on the configuration (usually in
       /etc/host.conf) how you can change it. If hosts is the first
       lookup method, you can change the FQDN in /etc/hosts.

OPTIONS top

       -a, --alias
              Display the alias name of the host (if used).

       -d, --domain
              Display the name of the DNS domain (this is the FQDN
              without the segment up to the first dot). This is
              equivalent to using the dnsdomainname command.

       -F, --file filename
              Read the new host name from the specified file. Comments
              (lines starting with a `#') are ignored.

       -f, --fqdn, --long
              Display the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name). A FQDN
              consists of name including the DNS domain.

       -h, --help
              Print a usage message and exit.

       -i, --ip-address
              Display the IP address(es) of the host.

       -n, --node
              Display the DECnet node name. If a parameter is given (or
              --file name ) the root can also set a new node name.

       -s, --short
              Display the short host name. This is the host name cut at
              the first dot.

       -V, --version
              Print version information on standard output and exit
              successfully.

       -v, --verbose
              Be verbose and tell what's going on.

       -y, --yp, --nis
              Display the NIS domain name. If a parameter is given (or
              --file name ) then root can also set a new NIS domain.

FILES top

       /etc/hostname /etc/hosts /etc/host.conf

AUTHOR top

       Peter Tobias, <tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de>
       Bernd Eckenfels, <net-tools@lina.inka.de> (NIS and manpage).
       Steve Whitehouse, <SteveW@ACM.org> (DECnet support and manpage).

COLOPHON top

       This page is part of the net-tools (networking utilities)
       project.  Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://net-tools.sourceforge.net/⟩.  If you have a bug report for
       this manual page, see ⟨http://net-tools.sourceforge.net/⟩.  This
       page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨git://git.code.sf.net/p/net-tools/code⟩ on 2024-06-14.  (At that
       time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2023-06-29.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

net-tools                      2013-08-29                    HOSTNAME(1)

Pages that refer to this page: hostnamectl(1), ippeveprinter(1), gethostname(2), cupsd.conf(5), hostname(5), hosts(5), proc_sys_kernel(5)