netrc(4)

Identify a remote machine name. The autologin process searches the .netrc file for a machine token that matches the remote machine specified on the ftp command line, as an ftp open command argument, or as the *ahost parameter of rexec(). Once a match is made, the subsequent .netrc tokens are processed, stopping when the end-of-file is reached or another machine token or a default token is encountered.

If the remote machine name has an alias host name, and both the official host name and the alias are present in the .netrc file, the ftp client gives precedence to the official host name over the alias when searching the .netrc file. If an alias is given as an entry to the ftp open command, and in the search from the top of the .netrc file to the bottom, the ftp client finds the alias host name before it finds the official host name, it will use the alias's entry. However, if it finds the official host name first, it will use the official entry even though the alias host name also exists in the .netrc file. So the high precedence given to the official host name requires placing the official host name entry last in the .netrc file for ftp when aliases exist.

Same as machine name except that default matches any name. There can be only one default token, and it must be after all machine tokens. This is normally used for ftp as follows:

This provides automatic anonymous ftp login to machines not specified in .netrc. This can be overridden in ftp by using the -n flag to disable autologin.

Identify a user on the remote machine. If this token is present, the ftp or rexec() autologin process initiates a login using the specified name. If this token matches the user name used by the rexec -l command option, or, by default, the local user name, rexec uses the password token, if present.

Supply a password. If this token is present, the autologin process supplies the specified string, if the remote server requires a password as part of the login process. Note that if this token is present in the .netrc file for any user other than anonymous, ftp aborts the autologin process if the .netrc is readable by anyone other than the owner. Also note that the passwords in .netrc are not encrypted.

Supply an additional account password for ftp login. If this token is present, the autologin process supplies the specified string if the remote server requires an additional account password, or the autologin process initiates an acct command if it does not.

Define an ftp macro. This token is just like the ftp macdef command. A macro is defined with the specified name; its contents begin with the next .netrc line and continue until an empty line (consecutive newline characters) is encountered. If a macro named init is defined, it is automatically executed as the last step in the ftp autologin process.