PROTOCOLS(4)                                                      PROTOCOLS(4)


NAME
     protocols - protocol name database

DESCRIPTION
     The /etc/protocols file contains information regarding the known
     protocols used in the Internet.  For each protocol a single line should
     be present with the following information:

        + official protocol name

        + protocol number

        + aliases (optional)

     Items are 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.

     Protocol names may contain any printable character other than a field
     delimiter, newline, or comment character.  For example,

          tcp   6    TCP     # transmission control protocol


FILES
     /etc/protocols

     If the NFS option is installed and NIS is running, the getprotoent(3N)
     library routines do not access this file.

SEE ALSO
     getprotoent(3N)

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


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