Mayayana wrote:

"VanguardLH" wrote

| The hosts file lists *hosts*, not domains. That is why it is called a
| hosts file. There is no wildcarding. The hosts file was not created
| for the purpose of adblocking.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)
|
| That Acrylic allows wildcarding is unique to that proxy in its
| interpretation of the content of the hosts file.
|
| I don't use Acrylic...

Yet you're determined to explain it. John understands.
And probably everyone else here does, too, without
needing links to the history of HOSTS files.

I was determined to find out WHICH file Acrylic actually used. You
misled by saying it was the 'hosts' file. Not true. Acrylic uses its
own and separate acrylichosts.txt file. It seemed dangerous to be
putzing with the standard 'hosts' file by putting entries within it that
nothing other than Acrylic would understand.

If you want to understand then why not just read
the instructions in Acrylic HOSTS rather than posting
all this stuff that everyone already knows?

Provide evidence that "everyone one already knows" to circumvent your
misleading statement that the hosts file had wildcards. Um, so where
was that hidden help where you illustrated how to perform filtering on
Doubleclick in one line using regex? If pyotr knew about the standard
'hosts' file then why is using a DNS server such news to him? I see you
didn't bother to offer explanation of how Acrylic differentiates a
"pattern" from regex.

Oh, so someone that doesn't use Acrylic DNS cannot comment about it. Uh
huh. Well, gee, you said "If I remember correctly, it turned out that
Acrylic can handle RegExp." Doesn't sound like you are too intimate
with the product, either.