.\"	$NetBSD: getent.1,v 1.13 2005/09/11 23:16:15 wiz Exp $
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.\" Copyright (c) 2004 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.
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.\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation
.\" by Luke Mewburn.
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.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd October 24, 2020
.Dt GETENT 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm getent
.Nd get entries from administrative database
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Ar database
.Op Ar key ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility retrieves and displays entries from the administrative
database specified by
.Ar database ,
using the lookup order specified in
.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 .
The display format for a given
.Ar database
is as per the
.Dq traditional
file format for that database.
.Pp
The
.Ar database
argument may be one of:
.Pp
.Bl -column ".Li netgroup" -offset indent -compact
.Sy Database Ta Sy Display format
.It Li ethers Ta address name
.It Li group Ta group:passwd:gid:[member[,member]...]
.It Li hosts Ta address name [alias ...]
.It Li netgroup Ta (host,user,domain) [...]
.It Li networks Ta name network [alias ...]
.It Li passwd Ta user:passwd:uid:gid:gecos:home_dir:shell
.It Li protocols Ta name protocol [alias ...]
.It Li rpc Ta name number [alias ...]
.It Li services Ta name port/protocol [alias ...]
.It Li shells Ta /path/to/shell
.It Li utmpx Ta [time] type: properties
.El
.Pp
If one or more
.Ar key
arguments are provided, they will be looked up in
.Ar database
using the appropriate function.
For example,
.Dq Li passwd
supports a numeric UID or user name;
.Dq Li hosts
supports an IPv4 address, IPv6 address, or host name;
and
.Dq Li services
supports a service name, service name/protocol name, numeric port, or
numeric port/protocol name.
.Pp
If no
.Ar key
is provided and
.Ar database
supports enumeration, all entries for
.Ar database
will be retrieved using the appropriate enumeration function and printed.
.Sh EXIT STATUS
The
.Nm
utility 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
.Ar database ,
or 3 if there is no support for enumeration on
.Ar database .
.Sh EXAMPLES
Show entry for user sshd from the passwd database:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ getent passwd sshd
sshd:*:22:22:Secure Shell Daemon:/var/empty:/usr/sbin/nologin
.Ed
.Pp
Show entry for TCP from the protocols database:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ getent protocols tcp
tcp                   6  TCP
.Ed
.Pp
Show entry for the localhost IPv6 address ::1 from the hosts database:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ getent hosts ::1
::1               localhost  localhost.my.domain
.Ed
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr getutxent 3 ,
.Xr ethers 5 ,
.Xr group 5 ,
.Xr hosts 5 ,
.Xr netgroup 5 ,
.Xr networks 5 ,
.Xr nsswitch.conf 5 ,
.Xr passwd 5 ,
.Xr protocols 5 ,
.Xr rpc 5 ,
.Xr services 5 ,
.Xr shells 5
.Sh HISTORY
A
.Nm
command appeared in
.Nx 3.0 ,
and was imported into
.Fx 7.0 .
It was based on the command of the same name in Solaris and Linux.