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32 .\" From: @(#)whois.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
40 .Nd "Internet domain name and network number directory service"
44 .Op Fl c Ar country-code | Fl h Ar host
49 looks up records in the databases maintained by several
50 Network Information Centers
53 The options are as follows:
54 .Bl -tag -width indent
56 Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
59 It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world covered neither by
64 (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
66 whois database end with
70 Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
73 It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
74 New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
75 .It Fl c Ar country-code
76 This is the equivalent of using the
78 option with an argument of
79 .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
81 Use the US Department of Defense
83 It contains points of contact for subdomains of
86 Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
87 contact for subdomains of
90 Use the specified host instead of the default variant.
91 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
95 constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
97 of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
98 .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
99 This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
100 automatically for a large number of
103 In the event that an IP
104 address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
105 Registry for Internet Numbers
113 that server will be queried also, provided that the
115 option is not specified.
117 If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
120 .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
122 Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
123 .Pq Pa whois.networksolutions.com
125 It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of
126 .Pa .COM , .NET , .ORG
132 The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
133 independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
134 on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
138 .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
139 is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
141 .Pa http://www.internic.net/ .
143 (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
145 can be looked up by prefixing
149 handle in the query.)
152 Use the Route Arbiter Database
155 It contains route policy specifications for a large
156 number of operators' networks.
158 Connect to the whois server on
160 If this option is not specified,
167 will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
168 server (if one is listed).
169 This option has no effect when combined with any other options.
171 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
174 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
177 Use the Russia Network Information Center
180 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
183 This option is deprecated; use the
185 option with an argument of
189 Use the IPv6 Resource Center
192 It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
195 The operands specified to
197 are treated independently and may be used
198 as queries on different whois servers.
200 Most types of data, such as domain names and
202 addresses, can be used as arguments to
204 without any options, and
206 will choose the correct whois server to query.
207 Some exceptions, where
209 will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
211 To obtain contact information about an
212 administrator located in the Russian
218 option as shown in the following example, where
220 is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
222 .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
224 (Note: This example is specific to the
229 can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
231 The following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an
233 address or hostname using the
235 option, which directs the query to
238 .Dl "whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address"
240 The following example demonstrates how to query
241 a whois server using a non-standard port, where
243 is the query to be sent to
244 .Dq Li whois.example.com
247 (written numerically as 4321).
249 .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"