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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
114 that server will be queried also, provided that the
116 option is not specified.
118 If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
121 .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
123 Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
124 .Pq Pa whois.networksolutions.com
126 It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of
127 .Pa .COM , .NET , .ORG
133 The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
134 independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
135 on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
139 .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
140 is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
142 .Pa http://www.internic.net/ .
144 (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
146 can be looked up by prefixing
150 handle in the query.)
153 Use the Route Arbiter Database
156 It contains route policy specifications for a large
157 number of operators' networks.
159 Connect to the whois server on
161 If this option is not specified,
168 will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
169 server (if one is listed).
170 This option has no effect when combined with any other options.
172 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
175 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
178 Use the Russia Network Information Center
181 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
184 This option is deprecated; use the
186 option with an argument of
190 Use the IPv6 Resource Center
193 It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
196 The operands specified to
198 are treated independently and may be used
199 as queries on different whois servers.
201 Most types of data, such as domain names and
203 addresses, can be used as arguments to
205 without any options, and
207 will choose the correct whois server to query.
208 Some exceptions, where
210 will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
212 To obtain contact information about an
213 administrator located in the Russian
219 option as shown in the following example, where
221 is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
223 .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
225 (Note: This example is specific to the
230 can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
232 The following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an
234 address or hostname using the
236 option, which directs the query to
239 .Dl "whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address"
241 The following example demonstrates how to query
242 a whois server using a non-standard port, where
244 is the query to be sent to
245 .Dq Li whois.example.com
248 (written numerically as 4321).
250 .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"