The options have the following meaning:
The arguments, system and core allow substitutes for the defaults ``/mach'' and ``/dev/kmem''.
The default display, for active sockets, shows the local and remote addresses, send and receive queue sizes (in bytes), protocol, and the internal state of the protocol. Address formats are of the form ``host.port'' or ``network.port'' if a socket's address specifies a network but no specific host address. When known the host and network addresses are displayed symbolically according to the data bases /etc/hosts and /etc/networks, respectively. If a symbolic name for an address is unknown, or if the -n option is specified, the address is printed numerically, according to the address family. For more information regarding the Internet ``dot format,'' refer to inet(3N). Unspecified, or ``wildcard'', addresses and ports appear as ``*''.
The interface display provides a table of cumulative statistics regarding packets transferred, errors, and collisions. The network addresses of the interface and the maximum transmission unit (``mtu'') are also displayed.
The routing table display indicates the available routes and their status. Each route consists of a destination host or network and a gateway to use in forwarding packets. The flags field shows the state of the route (``U'' if ``up''), whether the route is to a gateway (``G''), and whether the route was created dynamically by a redirect (``D''). Direct routes are created for each interface attached to the local host; the gateway field for such entries shows the address of the outgoing interface. The refcnt field gives the current number of active uses of the route. Connection oriented protocols normally hold on to a single route for the duration of a connection while connectionless protocols obtain a route while sending to the same destination. The use field provides a count of the number of packets sent using that route. The interface entry indicates the network interface utilized for the route.
When netstat is invoked with an interval argument, it displays a running count of statistics related to network interfaces. This display consists of a column for the primary interface (the first interface found during autoconfiguration) and a column summarizing information for all interfaces. The primary interface may be replaced with another interface with the -I option. The first line of each screen of information contains a summary since the system was last rebooted. Subsequent lines of output show values accumulated over the preceding interval.