NAME

       endhostent, gethostent, sethostent - network host database functions

SYNOPSIS

       #include <netdb.h>

       void endhostent(void);
       struct hostent *gethostent(void);
       void sethostent(int stayopen);

DESCRIPTION

       These  functions shall retrieve information about hosts. This information is considered to
       be stored in a database that can be accessed sequentially or randomly. The  implementation
       of this database is unspecified.

       Note:  In many cases this database is implemented by the Domain Name System, as documented
              in RFC 1034, RFC 1035, and RFC 1886.

       The sethostent() function shall open a connection to the database and set the  next  entry
       for  retrieval  to  the first entry in the database. If the stayopen argument is non-zero,
       the connection shall not  be  closed  by  a  call  to  gethostent(),  gethostbyname(),  or
       gethostbyaddr(), and the implementation may maintain an open file descriptor.

       The gethostent() function shall read the next entry in the database, opening and closing a
       connection to the database as necessary.

       Entries shall be returned in hostent structures. Refer to gethostbyaddr() for a definition
       of the hostent structure.

       The  endhostent()  function shall close the connection to the database, releasing any open
       file descriptor.

       These functions need not be reentrant. A function that is not required to be reentrant  is
       not required to be thread-safe.

RETURN VALUE

       Upon  successful completion, the gethostent() function shall return a pointer to a hostent
       structure if the requested entry was found, and a null pointer if the end of the  database
       was reached or the requested entry was not found.

ERRORS

       No errors are defined for endhostent(), gethostent(), and sethostent().

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE

       The  gethostent() function may return pointers to static data, which may be overwritten by
       subsequent calls to any of these functions.

RATIONALE

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       endservent() , gethostbyaddr() , the  Base  Definitions  volume  of  IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
       <netdb.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions  of  this  text  are  reprinted  and  reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std
       1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology  --  Portable  Operating  System
       Interface  (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by
       the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and  The  Open  Group.  In  the
       event  of  any  discrepancy  between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard  is  the  referee  document.  The
       original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .