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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
50 utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
51 Network Information Centers
54 The options are as follows:
55 .Bl -tag -width indent
57 Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
60 It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world covered neither by
65 (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
67 whois database end with
71 Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
74 It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
75 New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
76 .It Fl c Ar country-code
77 This is the equivalent of using the
79 option with an argument of
80 .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
82 Use the US Department of Defense
84 It contains points of contact for subdomains of
87 Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
88 contact for subdomains of
91 Use the specified host instead of the default variant.
92 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
96 constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
98 of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
99 .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
100 This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
101 automatically for a large number of
104 In the event that an IP
105 address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
106 Registry for Internet Numbers
115 that server will be queried also, provided that the
117 option is not specified.
119 If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
122 .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
124 Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
125 .Pq Pa whois.networksolutions.com
127 It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of
128 .Pa .COM , .NET , .ORG
134 The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
135 independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
136 on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
140 .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
141 is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
143 .Pa http://www.internic.net/ .
145 (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
147 can be looked up by prefixing
151 handle in the query.)
153 Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
156 It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
159 Use the Route Arbiter Database
162 It contains route policy specifications for a large
163 number of operators' networks.
165 Connect to the whois server on
167 If this option is not specified,
174 will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
175 server (if one is listed).
176 This option has no effect when combined with any other options.
178 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
181 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
184 Use the Russia Network Information Center
187 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
190 This option is deprecated; use the
192 option with an argument of
196 Use the IPv6 Resource Center
199 It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
202 The operands specified to
204 are treated independently and may be used
205 as queries on different whois servers.
207 Most types of data, such as domain names and
209 addresses, can be used as arguments to
211 without any options, and
213 will choose the correct whois server to query.
214 Some exceptions, where
216 will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
218 To obtain contact information about an
219 administrator located in the Russian
225 option as shown in the following example, where
227 is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
229 .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
231 (Note: This example is specific to the
236 can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
238 The following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an
240 address or hostname using the
242 option, which directs the query to
245 .Dl "whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address"
247 The following example demonstrates how to query
248 a whois server using a non-standard port, where
250 is the query to be sent to
251 .Dq Li whois.example.com
254 (written numerically as 4321).
256 .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"