The hostname command is a fundamental utility in Linux and Unix-like operating systems used to display or set the system's network name (hostname). Understanding and utilizing this command is crucial for system administration, network configuration, and identifying devices on a network.

Display Current Hostname

To view the current hostname of your system, simply execute the hostname command without any arguments.

# Display the current hostname of the system
hostname

Set System Hostname

You can change the system's hostname using the hostname command. This operation typically requires administrative privileges (sudo).

# Set a new hostname for the system (requires administrative privileges)
sudo hostname new-hostname

After setting a new hostname, it's good practice to verify the change by running hostname again.

Retrieve Specific Hostname Information

The hostname command offers various options to retrieve specific parts of the hostname or related network information.

Display Short Hostname

This option shows the hostname without any domain information.

# Display the short hostname (without any domain information)
hostname -s

Display Domain Name

Retrieve the domain name associated with the system.

# Display the domain name of the system
hostname -d

Display Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)

Get the complete hostname, including the domain name.

# Display the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the system
hostname -f

Display IP Addresses

List all IP addresses assigned to the host.

# Display the IP address(es) of the host
hostname -I

Display All Network Addresses

Show all network addresses configured for the host.

# Display all network addresses of the host
hostname -A

For more detailed information on the hostname command and its options, you can refer to the official documentation:

• Linux man page for hostname
• MDN Web Docs: Window.hostname (for browser context)