NICKNAMES(5) File Formats Manual NICKNAMES(5)

nicknames — map nickname translation file for NIS (YP)

The ypcat(1), ypmatch(1), and ypwhich(1) commands reference NIS (YP) maps as specified by the user. Occasionally it is desirable to use a shorthand reference for a longer map name, hence the nicknames file, kept in “/var/yp/nicknames.”

The format of the file is

nickname map

one pair per line. The default installed nickname map is as follows:

passwd
passwd.byname
group
group.byname
networks
networks.byaddr
hosts
hosts.byname
protocols
protocols.bynumber
services
services.byname
aliases
aliases.byname
ethers
ethers.byname
master.passwd
master.passwd.byname

A blank or incomplete nicknames file will affect any scripts which use nicknames for map lookup, whereas if the file is simply missing, the default compiled-in list will be used.

ypcat(1), ypmatch(1), ypwhich(1)

The nicknames file first appeared in Solaris 2.4.

August 28, 2003 NetBSD 11.0