---
name: "ethers"
section: "5"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ethers/5"
---

# ethers(5)

Ethernet host name database

## NAME

**ethers** – Ethernet host name database

## DESCRIPTION

The **ethers** file maps Ethernet addresses to host names. Lines consist of an address and a host name, separated by any number of blanks and/or tab characters. A ‘#’ indicates the beginning of a comment; characters up to the end of the line are not interpreted by routines which search the file.

Ethernet addresses are expressed as six hexadecimal numbers separated by colons. The functions described in [ether\_aton(3)](/ether_aton/3.md) can read and produce this format.

## FILES

- */etc/ethers*

  ## SEE ALSO

[ether\_aton(3)](/ether_aton/3.md), [diskless(8)](/diskless/8.md)

## HISTORY

The **ethers** file format was adopted from SunOS and appeared in NetBSD 0.9b.

## BUGS

A name server should be used instead of a static file.

Lines in */etc/ethers* are limited to BUFSIZ characters (currently 1024). Longer lines will be ignored.