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GETENT(1)                   General Commands Manual                  GETENT(1)

NAME
     getent, getcap - get entries from administrative databases

SYNOPSIS
     getent database [key ...]
     getcap 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
           disktab      entry
           ethers       address name
           gettytab     entry
           group        group:passwd:gid:[member[,member]...]
           hosts        address name [alias ...]
           netgroup     (host,user,domain) [...]
           networks     name network [alias ...]
           passwd       user:passwd:uid:gid:gecos:home_dir:shell
           printcap     entry
           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.

     For cgetcap(3) style databases (disktab, printcap) specifying a key,
     lists the entry for that key, and specifying more arguments after the key
     are used as fields in that key, and only the values of the keys are
     returned.  For boolean keys true is returned if the key is found.  If a
     key is not found, then false is always returned.

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
     cgetcap(3), disktab(5), ethers(5), gettytab(5), group(5), hosts(5),
     networks(5), nsswitch.conf(5), passwd(5), printcap(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.

NetBSD 10.99                   October 11, 2011                   NetBSD 10.99