\HeaderA{nsl}{Look up the IP Address by Hostname}{nsl}
\keyword{utilities}{nsl}
\begin{Description}\relax
Interface to \code{gethostbyname}.
\end{Description}
\begin{Usage}
\begin{verbatim}
nsl(hostname)
\end{verbatim}
\end{Usage}
\begin{Arguments}
\begin{ldescription}
\item[\code{hostname}] the name of the host.
\end{ldescription}
\end{Arguments}
\begin{Value}
The IP address, as a character string, or \code{NULL} if the call fails.
\end{Value}
\begin{Note}\relax
This was included as a test of internet connectivity, to fail if
the node running R is not connected.  It will also return \code{NULL}
if BSD networking is not supported, including the header file
\file{arpa/inet.h}.
\end{Note}
\begin{Examples}
\begin{ExampleCode}
## Not run: nsl("www.r-project.org")
\end{ExampleCode}
\end{Examples}