GETENT(1)

NAME
getent - get entries from administrative database

SYNOPSIS
getent database [key ...]

DESCRIPTION
The getent program retrieves and displays entries from the administrative database specified by database, using the lookup order specified in nsswitch.conf(5). The display format for a given database is as per the “traditional” file format for that database.

database may be one of:
Database | Display format
ethers | address name
group | group:passwd:gid:[member[,member]...]
hosts | address name [alias ...]
networks | name network [alias ...]
passwd | user:passwd:uid:gid:gecos:home_dir:shell
protocols | name protocol [alias ...]
rpc | name number [alias ...]
services | name port/protocol [alias ...]
shells | /path/to/shell

If one or more key arguments are provided, they will be looked up in database using the appropriate function. For example, passwd supports a numeric UID or user name; hosts supports an IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or host name; and services supports a service name, service name/protocol name, numeric port, or numeric port/protocol name.

If no key is provided and database supports enumeration, all entries for database will be retrieved using the appropriate enumeration function and printed.

DIAGNOSTICS
getent exits 0 on success, 1 if there was an error in the command syntax, 2 if one of the specified key names was not found in database, or 3 if there is no support for enumeration on database.

SEE ALSO
ethers(5), group(5), hosts(5), networks(5), nsswitch.conf(5), passwd(5), protocols(5), rpc(5), services(5), shells(5)

HISTORY
A getent command appeared in NetBSD 3.0. It was based on the command of the same name in Solaris and Linux.