{"id":711,"date":"2017-03-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.hostinger.io\/hostinger-tutorials\/uncategorized\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:20:09","slug":"how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/ng\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos\/","title":{"rendered":"How to successfully locate and edit hosts file on a Mac using terminal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Users can emulate domain name system (DNS) changes by editing the hosts file. This includes overwriting DNS values set by the internet service provider (ISP) and setting custom IPs for a domain name.<\/p>

By editing the Mac hosts file, you can easily preview your website on the local network. This helps if your domain is not yet registered, not pointed to a hosting account, or is still propagating.<\/p>

This tutorial will teach you how to edit the Mac hosts<\/strong> file and flush the DNS cache.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>

\n\n\n\n\n<\/p>

What Is the Hosts File on a Mac, and Why Is It Important<\/h2>

A system’s hosts file maps hostnames to IP addresses. Users can override default DNS information for a given domain and specify their IP addresses.<\/p>

Mac users can find the hosts file in the \/private\/etc\/hosts <\/strong>directory. You can edit it with any text editor as long as you have root user privileges.<\/p>

\n \n \n \n <\/svg>\n Important\n <\/span>\n

\n Important!<\/strong> Hosts file changes will only apply to the local machine. If you want a website to be visible to everyone, you must register a domain and point it to a hosting plan.\n <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/p>

How to Locate and Edit the Hosts File on macOS<\/h2>

Let’s start by finding and opening the hosts file.<\/p>

1. Open the Hosts File<\/p>

Follow these steps to access your hosts<\/strong> file on a Mac:<\/p>

2. Open Terminal by searching it via the spotlight search (Command + Spacebar <\/strong>keys).<\/p>

\"Finder<\/a><\/figure><\/div>

3. Open the hosts <\/strong>file with your preferred editor program. In this tutorial, we will use the Nano text editor<\/a>. To open it, enter the following:<\/p>

sudo nano \/private\/etc\/hosts<\/pre>
4. Since we use sudo<\/strong> to edit the hosts<\/strong> file, you will be asked to enter the administrator password of your macOS user account. Type your admin password and hit the Enter <\/strong>key.<\/p>
\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\n            \n                \n                    \n                <\/svg>\n                Important\n            <\/span>\n            
\n                Important!<\/strong> For security reasons, the cursor doesn’t work in the command line. Use the arrow keys to navigate between the lines inside the hosts file.\n            <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/p>
5. Edit the Hosts File on a Mac<\/p>
To emulate DNS settings and point a domain name to an IP address, use the following syntax:<\/p>
IP_Address domain.com\n\nIP_Address www.domain.com<\/pre>
For example, to emulate the DNS change for hostinger.com<\/strong> and www.hostinger.com<\/strong>, you would have to include the following lines at the bottom of the hosts<\/strong> file.<\/p>
185.185.185.185 hostinger.com\n\n185.185.185.185 www.hostinger.com<\/pre>
This will emulate the IP address change of the hostinger.com<\/strong> domain and www.hostinger.com<\/strong> subdomain to 185.185.185.185<\/strong>.<\/p>
\"Mac's<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
Once you are done editing the hosts<\/strong> file, press Control + X<\/strong> on your keyboard. Enter Y<\/strong> to save the changes, and hit the Enter <\/strong>button.<\/p>
Now, your Mac will resolve the hostinger.com<\/strong> domain using the given IP address instead of what is set at the DNS Zone.<\/p>
Editing the hosts<\/strong> file can also help you see your new site content during the propagation period after connecting a domain to web hosting. Remember that after propagation is done, you should remove the new lines from the hosts<\/strong> file.<\/p>
6. Flush DNS Cache<\/p>
The hosts<\/strong> file changes may not apply instantly. You can flush the DNS cache<\/a> to help speed up the process. To flush a Mac’s DNS cache, execute the following command:<\/p>
macOS Monterey, Big Sur<\/strong><\/p>
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder<\/pre>
macOS Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, Mountain Lion, Lion<\/strong><\/p>
sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder<\/pre>
\"Hostinger<\/a><\/figure>
Conclusion<\/h2>
Editing the hosts<\/strong> file helps point your domain to a hosting plan without changing DNS records. This lets your personal computer resolve the domain to a preferred IP address.<\/p>
In this tutorial, we’ve gone through editing the hosts<\/strong> file on a Mac and flushing the DNS cache to speed up the process.<\/p>
We hope that you found this tutorial helpful. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Users can emulate domain name system (DNS) changes by editing the hosts file. This includes overwriting DNS values set by the internet service provider (ISP) and setting custom IPs for a domain name. By editing the Mac hosts file, you can easily preview your website on the local network. This helps if your domain is […]<\/p>\n
Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_title":"How to Locate and Edit Hosts File on Mac in 3 Simple Steps","rank_math_description":"Check out this article to learn how to Locate and Edit Hosts File on Mac: 1. Open hosts file 2. Edit hosts file 3. Flush DNS cache.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"hosts file mac","footnotes":""},"categories":[22631],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-domains"],"hreflangs":[{"locale":"en-US","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","default":0},{"locale":"pt-BR","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/br\/tutoriais\/como-editar-o-arquivo-hosts-no-mac","default":0},{"locale":"es-ES","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/es\/tutoriales\/archivo-hosts-mac","default":0},{"locale":"en-GB","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/uk\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","default":0},{"locale":"en-MY","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/my\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","default":0},{"locale":"en-PH","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ph\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","default":0},{"locale":"es-MX","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/mx\/tutoriales\/archivo-hosts-mac","default":0},{"locale":"es-CO","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/co\/tutoriales\/archivo-hosts-mac","default":0},{"locale":"es-AR","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ar\/tutoriales\/archivo-hosts-mac","default":0},{"locale":"pt-PT","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/pt\/tutoriais\/como-editar-o-arquivo-hosts-no-mac","default":0},{"locale":"en-IN","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/in\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","default":0},{"locale":"en-CA","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ca\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","default":0},{"locale":"en-AU","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/au\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","default":0},{"locale":"en-NG","link":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/how-to-edit-hosts-file-macos","default":0}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145395,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions\/145395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hostinger.com\/ng\/tutorials\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}