Linux get computer name

Best 5 commands to check HostName in Linux

A hostname (also known as a Computer Name) is a name which is given to a device (It could be a system, switch, router, etc) that is connected to the network, and is used to identify it over a network. There cannot be two systems with same host names within the same network.

The purpose of assigning names to IP addresses is to make them easier for people to remember. In reality, an IP address identifies a network interface associated with a device like a network card.

Refer the following articles on how to change a hostname in Linux:

By default, the hostname can be found in the terminal, but it only shows the first part when the hostname is large (each hostname usually has at least one numeric network address associated with it).

In this tutorial, we will show you how to check hostname using several ways in Linux.

• hostnamectl Command: hostnamectl command is controling the system hostname.
• nmcli Command: nmcli is a command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager.
• uname Command: Print certain system information.
• hostname: Show or set system host name.
• sysctl: sysctl command allows us to configure kernel parameters at runtime.

1) Checking HostName using hostnamectl command

hostnamectl may be used to query and change the system hostname and related settings. Run the hostnamectl command to view the system hostname as shown below:

$ hostnamectl or $ hostnamectl status Static hostname: daygeek-Y700 Icon name: computer-laptop Chassis: laptop Machine ID: 31bdeb7b83230a2025d43547368d75bc Boot ID: 267f264c448f000ea5aed47263c6de7f Operating System: Manjaro Linux Kernel: Linux 4.19.20-1-MANJARO Architecture: x86-64

2) Checking the Linux system hostname

Hostname is the program that is used to either set or display the current host, domain or node name of the system. These names are used by many of the networking programs to identify the machine. The domain name is also used by NIS/YP.

3) Checking HostName with uname command

uname (stands for unix name) is a utility that prints the system information like name, version and other details about the system, and the operating system running on it:

$ uname -a | awk '' CentOS.2daygeek.com

4) Checking HostName using nmcli command

nmcli is a command-line tool for controlling NetworkManager and reporting network status.

nmcli is used to create, display, edit, delete, activate, and deactivate network connections, as well as control and display network device status. Also, it allow us to view the hostname.

Use the following format to view the current hostname using nmcli :

$ nmcli general hostname daygeek-Y700

5) Checking HostName using sysctl command

‘sysctl’ is used to modify kernel parameters at runtime. The parameters available are those listed under /proc/sys/. Procfs is required for sysctl support in Linux. You can use sysctl to both read and write sysctl data.

$ sysctl kernel.hostname kernel.hostname = daygeek-Y700

Bonus Tips:

Alternatively, you can use the following commands to verify the hostname in Linux. These are additional methods but I rather recommend using the aforementioned five commands as they are most widely used.

• nmtui Command: nmtui is a text User Interface for controlling NetworkManager.
• /etc/hostname file: This file is containing the static system hostname.
• /etc/hosts: /etc/hosts file is an operating system file that maps hostnames to IP addresses.
• /etc/sysconfig/network: The /etc/sysconfig/network file specifies additional information that is valid to all network interfaces on the system.
• /proc/sys/kernel/hostname: The proc filesystem (procfs) is a special filesystem in Unix-like operating systems.

Method-1: Check HostName using /etc/hostname file

Alternatively, we can view the hostname by using the /etc/hostname file.

Check the current hostname using /etc/hostname file.

$ cat /etc/hostname daygeek-Y700

Method-2: Check HostName using /etc/hosts file

‘/etc/hosts’ file is an operating system file that maps hostnames to IP addresses before DNS can be referenced. It is a plain text file, one line per IP address. It’s a static table lookup for hostnames as shown below:

$ cat /etc/hosts | grep daygeek 127.0.1.1 daygeek-Y700

Method-3: Check HostName using ProcFS in Linux

The proc filesystem (procfs) is a special filesystem in Unix-like operating systems that presents information about processes and other system information.

It’s sometimes referred to as a process information pseudo-file system. It doesn’t contain ‘real’ files but runtime system information (e.g. system memory, devices mounted, hardware configuration, etc).

$ cat /proc/sys/kernel/hostname daygeek-Y700

Method-4: View HostName with nmtui

nmtui is a curses‐based TUI application for interacting with NetworkManager. When starting nmtui, the user is prompted to choose the activity to perform unless it was specified as the first argument.

Run the following command on terminal to launch the terminal user interface:

Method-5: Check HostName using /etc/sysconfig/network file

The ‘/etc/sysconfig/network’ file specifies additional information that is valid to all network interfaces on the system.

For RHEL/CentOS 6 systems only:

$ cat /etc/sysconfig/network | grep -i hostname HOSTNAME=CentOS.2daygeek.com

Wrapping Up

In this tutorial we’ve shown you ten commands to check the hostname in Linux.

If you found this article helpful, please do share with your friends and spread the knowledge. Please feel free to comment below if you have any queries/concerns. We will get back to you as soon as we can. Happy learning!

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How to get the computer name (not its hostname)?

All the results of my searches end up having something to do with hostname or uname -n . I looked up the manual for both, looking for sneaky options, but no luck. I am trying to find an equivalent of OSX’s scutil —get ComputerName on Linux systems. On Mac OS X, the computer name is used as a human-readable identifier for the computer; it’s shown in various management screens (e.g. on inventory management, Bonjour-based remote access, . ) and serves as the default hostname (after filtering to handle spaces etc.).

I might be wrong, but defining the name of the computer as its network name means that it doesn’t have a fixed name, right? When you install a Linux or OSX on a machine, you usually choose a name for that computer (which is the default network name I assume). For example my laptop might be named «FooBar» but when I connect to a network at work I get a hostname such as «machine42.work.localnetwork».

@Sh3ljohn what purpose does computername is osx serve? I don’t think there’s any equivalent in linux system.

Did you give some name other than hostname when installing that computer? Try searching for that name in /etc: grep -ri ‘name’ /etc

@Bibek_G I would like to use this to identify the machine on which I am running from a software of mine. UUID is insufficient because there might be several OS’s installed on the same disk which in turn run on the same machine.

5 Answers 5

The closest equivalent to a human-readable (and human-chosen) name for any computer running Linux is the default hostname stored in /etc/hostname . On some (not all) Linux distributions, this name is entered during installation as the computee’s name (but with network hostname constraints, unlike macOS’s computer name). This can be namespaced, i.e. each UTS namespace can have a different hostname.

Systems running systemd distinguish three different hostnames, including a “pretty” human-readable name which is supposed to be descriptive in a similar fashion to macOS’s computer name; this can be set and retrieved using hostnamectl ’s —pretty option. The other two hostnames are the static hostname, which is the default hostname described above, and the transient hostname which reflects the current network configuration.

Systemd also supports a chassis type (e.g. “tablet”) and an icon for the host; see systemd-hostnamed.service .

But this file is often used to set hostname and uname -n , and @Sh3ljohn explicitly wanted to avoid the output of those two commands.

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3 Ways to Find PC’s Hostname Using Linux Terminal

Just as Internet Protocol address or IP address gives an identification to your device, similarly, the hostname is another parameter through which you can recognize your device. It is a string of human understandable characters. Unlike IP address, hostname of a PC is easy to memorize and recall. For this purpose, one should always know his PC’s hostname. In this article, we will tell you how you can find your PC’s hostname using Linux Terminal.

Finding PC’s Hostname in Linux

To find the hostname of your PC in Linux, you can perform any of the three methods listed below:

Method # 1: Use the hostname command

Launch the terminal by pressing Ctrl +T or clicking on the terminal icon displayed on the taskbar or searching for terminal by typing terminal in the search window and pressing enter. The newly opened terminal window is shown below:

Now type the command hostname in the terminal and press enter.

As soon as you will press enter, your PC’s hostname will appear on your terminal. It is shown in the image below:

Method # 2: Use the hostnamectl command

Launch the terminal by pressing Ctrl +T or clicking on the terminal icon displayed on the taskbar or searching for the terminal by typing terminal in the search window and pressing enter. The newly opened terminal window is shown below:

in the terminal and press enter.

As soon as you will press enter, your PC’s hostname will appear on the terminal window. This is shown below:

Method # 3: Use the cat command

Launch the terminal by pressing Ctrl +T or clicking on the terminal icon displayed on the taskbar or searching for terminal by typing terminal in the search window and pressing enter. The newly opened terminal window is shown below:

cat /proc/sys/kernel/hostname

in the terminal and press enter.

As soon as you will press enter, your PC’s hostname will be displayed on the terminal. It is shown below:

Conclusion

The three different methods listed above are indeed very easy and simple. Now you can find your PC’s hostname within seconds and without getting yourself in any sort of trouble. I hope these methods will help you.

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