NAME
whois
- Internet domain name and network number directory service
SYNOPSIS
whois
[-6AadfgilmQRr]
code | -h host
[-c country-]
[-p port]
name[ ...]
DESCRIPTION
The
whois
utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
Network Information Centers
(NICs).
The options are as follows:
- -6
-
Use the IPv6 Resource Center
(6bone)
database.
It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
- -A
-
Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
(APNIC)
database.
It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
- -a
-
Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
(ARIN)
database.
It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
not covered by
AfriNIC,
APNIC,
LACNIC
or by
RIPE.
(Hint: All point of contact handles in the
ARIN
whois database end with
"
-ARIN
.)
- -c country-code
-
This is the equivalent of using the
-h
option with an argument of
"country-code
.whois-servers.net
.
- -d
-
Use the US Department of Defense database.
It contains points of contact for subdomains of
.MIL.
- -f
-
Use the African Network Information Center
(AfriNIC)
database.
It contains network numbers used in Africa
- -g
-
Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
contact for subdomains of
.GOV.
- -h host
-
Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
(whois.crsnic.net).
Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
By default
whois
constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
(TLD)
of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
"
.whois-servers.net
.
This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
automatically for a large number of
TLDs.
In the event that an IP
address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
Registry for Internet Numbers
(ARIN).
If a query to
ARIN
references
AfriNIC, APNIC, LACNIC,
or
RIPE,
that server will be queried also, provided that the
-Q
option is not specified.
If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
whois
will fall back to
whois.crsnic.net
.
- -i
-
Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
(whois.networksolutions.com)
database.
Historically, it contained network numbers and domain contact information
for most of
.COM,
.NET,
.ORG
and
.EDU
domains.
However, the registration of these domains is now done by a number of
independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
Also, note that the
InterNIC
database
(
whois.internic.net
)
is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
For details, see
http://www.internic.net/
.
(Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
handle,
can be looked up by prefixing
"
!
or
"
handle
to the
NIC
handle in the query.)
- -l
-
Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
(LACNIC)
database.
It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
Caribbean.
- -m
-
Use the Route Arbiter Database
(RADB)
database.
It contains route policy specifications for a large
number of operators' networks.
- -p port
-
Connect to the whois server on
port.
If this option is not specified,
whois
defaults to the
``whois''
port listed in
/etc/services
(port 43).
- -Q
-
Do a quick lookup.
This means that
whois
will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
fails.
This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
- -R
-
Use the Russia Network Information Center
(RIPN)
database.
It contains network numbers and domain contact information
for subdomains of
.RU.
This option is deprecated; use the
-c
option with an argument of
"
RU
instead.
- -r
-
Use the RŽeseaux IP EuropŽeens
(RIPE)
database.
It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
name,
is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
name
in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
address, etc.) in the database.
For more information as to what
name
operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
the special name
``help''.
Special cases
Queries beginning with an exclamation point
`!'
are assumed to be
NSI
contact handles.
Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
(whois.networksolutions.com)
will be used as the
whois
database.
Similarly, queries beginning with
``COCO-''
are assumed to be
CORE
contact handles.
Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
(whois.corenic.net)
will be used as the
whois
database.
EXAMPLES
Most types of data, such as domain names and
IP
addresses, can be used as arguments to
whois
without any options, and
whois
will choose the correct whois server to query.
Some exceptions, where
whois
will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
To obtain contact information about an
administrator located in the Russian
TLD
domain
"
RU
,
use the
-c
option as shown in the following example, where
CONTACT-ID
is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
whois -c RU CONTACT-ID
(Note: This example is specific to the
TLD
"
RU
,
but other
TLDs
can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
The following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an
IPv6
address or hostname using the
-6
option, which directs the query to
6bone.
whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address
The following example demonstrates how to query
a whois server using a non-standard port, where
``
query-data
''
is the query to be sent to
``
whois.example.com
''
on port
``
rwhois
''
(written numerically as 4321).
whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data
SEE ALSO
HISTORY
The
whois
command appeared in
4.3BSD.