---
name: "networks"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "man-pages"
version: "6.19-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/networks"
---

# networks(5)

network name information

## NAME

networks - network name information

## DESCRIPTION

The file */etc/networks* is a plain ASCII file that describes known DARPA networks and symbolic names for these networks. Each line represents a network and has the following structure:

*name number aliases ...*

where the fields are delimited by spaces or tabs. Empty lines are ignored. The hash character (**#**) indicates the start of a comment: this character, and the remaining characters up to the end of the current line, are ignored by library functions that process the file.

The field descriptions are:

- *name*

  The symbolic name for the network. Network names can contain any printable characters except white-space characters or the comment character.

- *number*

  The official number for this network in numbers-and-dots notation (see [**inet**(3)](/inet/3.md)). The trailing ".0" (for the host component of the network address) may be omitted.

- *aliases*

  Optional aliases for the network.

This file is read by the [**route**(8)](/route/8.md) and [**netstat**(8)](/netstat/8.md) utilities. Only Class A, B, or C networks are supported, partitioned networks (i.e., network/26 or network/28) are not supported by this file.

## FILES

- */etc/networks*

  The networks definition file.

## SEE ALSO

[**getnetbyaddr**(3)](/getnetbyaddr/3.md), [**getnetbyname**(3)](/getnetbyname/3.md), [**getnetent**(3)](/getnetent/3.md), [**netstat**(8)](/netstat/8.md), [**route**(8)](/route/8.md)