diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_print_hostnames.fish b/share/functions/__fish_print_hostnames.fish
index aca754c1f..7c7a28a81 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_print_hostnames.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_print_hostnames.fish
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ function __fish_print_hostnames -d "Print a list of known hostnames"
 	# HACK: This only deals with ipv4
 
 	# Print all hosts from /etc/hosts
-	if type -q getent
+	# use 'getent hosts' on OSes that support it (OpenBSD and Cygwin do not)
+	if type -q getent; and getent hosts > /dev/null 2>&1 # test if 'getent hosts' works and redirect output so errors don't print
 		# Ignore zero ips
 		getent hosts | string match -r -v '^0.0.0.0' \
 		| string replace -r '[0-9.]*\s*' '' | string split " "