How to Edit the Hosts File on a Mac

This updated guide examines How to Edit the Hosts File on a Mac and organizes the essential facts, background, and practical takeaways in clear American English.

Method 1of 1:

Editing Using TextEdit

1. Open the Terminal app. You can use the Spotlight search functionality to do this.
2. Copy the/etc/hostsfile to a local file to be able to edit it.
   • Type the command:cp /etc/hosts hosts.
3. Edit the copy of thehostsfile using TextEdit .
   • Type the command:open /Applications/TextEdit.app hosts
4. Add your new hosts file entry as a single line at the bottom of the file. The format of the line is "1.2.3.4 www.mynewdomain.com", where1.2.3.4is the IP address andwww.mynewdomain.comis the domain you want to point at the IP address.
5. Copy the file hosts over top of the system /etc/hosts file. Do this by typing:sudo cp hosts /etc/hosts.
   • You will be prompted for your password at this point because you are overwriting the system/etc/hostsfile. Note that on the command line, when you type a character into the password field, nothing at all will appear.
6. Test your new local domain name by typing the domain name into your web browser.
   • Note: your new domain name will not work until you have a web server responding at the IP address you specify!