nistbladm and Indexed Names

In the context of table administration, an NIS+ indexed name is a name that combines a table name with column value search criteria to identify and select particular entries in a table. Indexed names use the format:

[search_criteria],tablename.directory

Note that search_criteria must be enclosed in square brackets [ ]. The search_criteria use the format:

columname=value, \
 columname=value,...

Where columname=value pairs are column values from the table's searchable columns as described in nistbladm and Column Values.

For example, to identify the altair entry in Table 19–2 you could use the indexed name:

[addr=129.146.168.4,cname=altair],hosts.org_dir.doc.com.

The nistbladm -R command allows you to remove all the entries in a table by using the two square brackets with nothing between them [ ] as a wildcard specifying all table rows.