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32 .\" From: @(#)whois.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
40 .Nd Internet domain name and network number directory service
48 looks up records in the databases maintained by several
49 Network Information Centers
52 The options are as follows:
55 Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
57 database. It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
61 Contact (handle) information should be looked up by appending "-ARIN" to the
64 .D1 Ic $ whois -a foo3-ARIN
67 Use the US Department of Defense
68 database. It contains points of contact for subdomains of
71 Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
72 contact for subdomains of
75 Use the specified host instead of the default variant.
76 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
80 construct the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
82 of the supplied (single) argument, and appending ".whois-servers.net".
83 This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
84 automatically for a large number of TLDs.
85 If no required whois-servers.net subdomain found, fallback
86 to whois.crsnic.net provided.
88 Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
89 .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
90 database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information
98 NOTE! The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
99 independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
100 on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
101 Also, note that the InterNIC database
102 .Pq Tn whois.internic.net
103 is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
105 http://www.internic.net/.
106 Contact (handle) information should be looked up by prefixing "handle " to the
107 NIC handle in the querry:
109 .D1 Ic $ whois -i 'handle foo3'
112 Use the Route Arbiter Database
115 It contains route policy specifications for a large
116 number of operators' networks.
118 Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
120 database. It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
121 New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
123 Do a quick lookup. This means that
125 will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
126 server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
127 fails. This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
129 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
131 database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information
134 Use the Russia Network Information Center
136 database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information
140 Use the IPv6 Resource Center
142 database. It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
145 The operands specified to
147 are concatenated together (separated by white-space) and presented to
152 The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
154 is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
156 in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
157 address, etc.) in the database.
158 For more information as to what
160 operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use