diff --git a/jc/cli.py b/jc/cli.py
index 7839f2ed..32752ad7 100644
--- a/jc/cli.py
+++ b/jc/cli.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import jc.parsers.dig
 import jc.parsers.env
 import jc.parsers.free
 import jc.parsers.history
+import jc.parsers.hosts
 import jc.parsers.ifconfig
 import jc.parsers.iptables
 import jc.parsers.jobs
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ def helptext(message):
             --env        env parser
             --free       free parser
             --history    history parser
+            --hosts      /etc/hosts file parser
             --ifconfig   iconfig parser
             --iptables   iptables parser
             --jobs       jobs parser
@@ -112,6 +114,7 @@ def main():
         '--env': jc.parsers.env.parse,
         '--free': jc.parsers.free.parse,
         '--history': jc.parsers.history.parse,
+        '--hosts': jc.parsers.hosts.parse,
         '--ifconfig': jc.parsers.ifconfig.parse,
         '--iptables': jc.parsers.iptables.parse,
         '--jobs': jc.parsers.jobs.parse,
diff --git a/jc/parsers/hosts.py b/jc/parsers/hosts.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..54529379
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jc/parsers/hosts.py
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+"""jc - JSON CLI output utility hosts Parser
+
+Usage:
+    specify --hosts as the first argument if the piped input is coming from hosts
+
+Examples:
+
+    $ hosts | jc --hosts -p
+    []
+
+    $ hosts | jc --hosts -p -r
+    []
+"""
+import jc.utils
+
+
+def process(proc_data):
+    """
+    Final processing to conform to the schema.
+
+    Parameters:
+
+        proc_data:   (dictionary) raw structured data to process
+
+    Returns:
+
+        dictionary   structured data with the following schema:
+
+        [
+          {
+            "hosts":     string,
+            "bar":     boolean,
+            "baz":     integer
+          }
+        ]
+    """
+
+    # rebuild output for added semantic information
+    return proc_data
+
+
+def parse(data, raw=False, quiet=False):
+    """
+    Main text parsing function
+
+    Parameters:
+
+        data:        (string)  text data to parse
+        raw:         (boolean) output preprocessed JSON if True
+        quiet:       (boolean) suppress warning messages if True
+
+    Returns:
+
+        dictionary   raw or processed structured data
+    """
+
+    # compatible options: linux, darwin, cygwin, win32, aix, freebsd
+    compatible = ['linux', 'darwin', 'cygwin', 'win32', 'aix', 'freebsd']
+
+    if not quiet:
+        jc.utils.compatibility(__name__, compatible)
+
+    raw_output = []
+    cleandata = data.splitlines()
+
+    # Clear any blank lines
+    cleandata = list(filter(None, cleandata))
+
+    if cleandata:
+        for line in cleandata:
+            output_line = {}
+            # ignore commented lines
+            if line.strip().find('#') == 0:
+                continue
+
+            line_list = line.split(maxsplit=1)
+            ip = line_list[0]
+            hosts = line_list[1]
+            hosts_list = hosts.split()
+
+            output_line['ip'] = ip
+            output_line['hostname'] = hosts_list
+
+            raw_output.append(output_line)
+
+    if raw:
+        return raw_output
+    else:
+        return process(raw_output)