Location of the host-local IP name-address associations
database. Most Operating Systems have such a file on different
default locations:
- Un*X & Linux: /etc/hosts
- Windows NT/2000: %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
(%SystemRoot% value install default is c:\winnt)
- Windows XP/2003: %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
(%SystemRoot% value install default is c:\windows)
- Windows 9x/Me: %windir%\hosts
(%windir% value is usually c:\windows)
- Cygwin: /etc/hosts
The file contains newline-separated definitions, in the
form ip_address_in_dotted_form name [name ...] names are
whitespace-separated. Lines beginning with an hash (#)
character are comments.
The file is checked at startup and upon configuration.
If set to 'none', it won't be checked.
If append_domain is used, that domain will be added to
domain-local (i.e. not containing any dot character) host
definitions.