21.6 hostid: Print numeric host identifier

hostid prints the numeric identifier of the current host in hexadecimal. This command accepts no arguments. The only options are --help and --version. See Common options.

For example, here’s what it prints on one system I use:

$ hostid
1bac013d

On that system, the 32-bit quantity happens to be closely related to the system’s Internet address, but that isn’t always the case.

hostid is installed only on systems that have the gethostid function, so portable scripts should not rely on its existence.

An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value indicates failure.