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28 .\" From: @(#)whois.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
35 .Nd "Internet domain name and network number directory service"
38 .Op Fl aAbfgiIklmPQrRS
39 .Op Fl c Ar TLD | 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.
94 This is the equivalent of using the
96 option with an argument of
97 .Qq Ar TLD Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
98 This can be helpful for locating country-class TLD whois servers.
100 Use the African Network Information Centre
103 It contains network numbers used in Africa and the islands of the
104 western Indian Ocean.
105 Get query syntax documentation using
108 Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
109 contact for subdomains of
112 Use the specified host instead of the default.
113 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
115 Use the traditional Network Information Center (InterNIC)
116 .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
118 This now contains only registrations for domain names under
122 You can specify the type of object to search for like
123 .Ic whois -i ' Ns Ar type Ar name Ns Ic '
127 .Nm domain , nameserver , registrar .
134 Use the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
138 Use the National Internet Development Agency of Korea's
141 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
144 Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
147 It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
150 Use the Route Arbiter Database
153 It contains route policy specifications for a large
154 number of operators' networks.
156 Connect to the whois server on
158 If this option is not specified,
162 Use the PeeringDB database of AS numbers.
163 It contains details about presence at internet peering points
164 for many network operators.
168 will not attempt to follow referrals to other whois servers.
169 This is the default if a server is explicitly specified
170 using one of the other options or in an environment variable.
175 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
178 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
180 Get query syntax documentation using
183 Do a recursive lookup;
185 will attempt to follow referrals to other whois servers.
186 This is the default if no server is explicitly specified.
193 adjusts simple queries (without spaces) to produce more useful output
194 from certain whois servers,
195 and it suppresses some uninformative output.
200 sends the query and prints the output verbatim.
203 The operands specified to
205 are treated independently and may be used
206 as queries on different whois servers.
208 .Bl -tag -width WHOIS_SERVER
210 The primary default whois server.
215 environment variable.
217 The secondary default whois server.
226 To obtain contact information about an
227 administrator located in the Russian
233 option as shown in the following example, where
235 is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
237 .Dl Ic whois -c RU CONTACT-ID
239 (Note: This example is specific to the
244 can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
246 The following example demonstrates how to query
247 a whois server using a non-standard port, where
249 is the query to be sent to
250 .Dq Li whois.example.com
253 (written numerically as 4321).
255 .Dl Ic whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data
257 Some whois servers support complex queries
258 with dash-letter options.
263 command options from whois server query options.
264 A query containing spaces must be quoted as one
268 The following example asks the RIPE whois server
269 to return a brief description of its
273 .Dl Ic whois -r -- '-t domain'
288 .%T WHOIS Protocol Specification