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28 .\" From: @(#)whois.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
36 .Nd "Internet domain name and network number directory service"
39 .Op Fl aAbfgiIklmPQrRS
40 .Op Fl c Ar country-code | Fl h Ar host
46 utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
47 Network Information Centers
52 starts by querying the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) whois server,
53 and follows referrals to whois servers
54 that have more specific details about the query
56 The IANA whois server knows about
57 IP address and AS numbers
58 as well as domain names.
60 There are a few special cases where referrals do not work, so
62 goes directly to the appropriate server.
63 These include point-of-contact handles for ARIN,
66 and domain names under
69 The options are as follows:
70 .Bl -tag -width indent
72 Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
75 It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world covered neither by
76 .Tn APNIC , AfriNIC , LACNIC ,
79 The query syntax is documented at
80 .Pa https://www.arin.net/resources/whoisrws/whois_api.html#nicname
82 Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
85 It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
86 New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
87 Get query syntax documentation using
90 Use the Network Abuse Clearinghouse database.
91 It contains addresses to which network abuse should be reported,
92 indexed by domain name.
93 .It Fl c Ar country-code
94 This is the equivalent of using the
96 option with an argument of
97 .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
99 Use the African Network Information Centre
102 It contains network numbers used in Africa and the islands of the
103 western Indian Ocean.
104 Get query syntax documentation using
107 Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
108 contact for subdomains of
111 Use the specified host instead of the default.
112 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
114 Use the traditional Network Information Center (InterNIC)
115 .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
117 This now contains only registrations for domain names under
121 You can specify the type of object to search for like
122 .Ic whois -i ' Ns Ar type Ar name Ns Ic '
126 .Nm domain , nameserver , registrar .
133 Use the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
137 Use the National Internet Development Agency of Korea's
140 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
143 Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
146 It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
149 Use the Route Arbiter Database
152 It contains route policy specifications for a large
153 number of operators' networks.
155 Connect to the whois server on
157 If this option is not specified,
161 Use the PeeringDB database of AS numbers.
162 It contains details about presence at internet peering points
163 for many network operators.
167 will not attempt to follow referrals to other whois servers.
168 This is the default if a server is explicitly specified
169 using one of the other options or in an environment variable.
174 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
177 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
179 Get query syntax documentation using
182 Do a recursive lookup;
184 will attempt to follow referrals to other whois servers.
185 This is the default if no server is explicitly specified.
192 adjusts simple queries (without spaces) to produce more useful output
193 from certain whois servers,
194 and it suppresses some uninformative output.
199 sends the query and prints the output verbatim.
202 The operands specified to
204 are treated independently and may be used
205 as queries on different whois servers.
209 The primary default whois server.
214 environment variable.
216 The secondary default whois server.
225 To obtain contact information about an
226 administrator located in the Russian
232 option as shown in the following example, where
234 is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
236 .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
238 (Note: This example is specific to the
243 can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
245 The following example demonstrates how to query
246 a whois server using a non-standard port, where
248 is the query to be sent to
249 .Dq Li whois.example.com
252 (written numerically as 4321).
254 .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"