whois.1 (c10c16dec587a0662068f6e2991c29ed3a9db943) whois.1 (1dd3983cc356c3a7dfb198a7226406e01152a352)
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6.TH whois 1 "6 Nov 2000" "SunOS 5.11" "User Commands"
1.TH WHOIS 1 "October 2, 2009" ""
7.SH NAME
2.SH NAME
8whois \- Internet user name directory service
3\fBwhois\fP
4\- Internet domain name and network number directory service
9.SH SYNOPSIS
5.SH SYNOPSIS
10.LP
11.nf
12\fBwhois\fR [\fB-h\fR \fIhost\fR] \fIidentifier\fR
13.fi
14
6.br
7\fBwhois\fP
8[\fB\-aAbfgiIklmQr\fP]
9[\fB\-c\fP \fIcountry-code\fP | \fIFl\fP h \fIhost\fP]
10[\fB\-p\fP \fIport\fP]
11\fIname\fP...
15.SH DESCRIPTION
12.SH DESCRIPTION
16.sp
17.LP
18\fBwhois\fR searches for an \fBInternet\fR directory entry for an
19\fIidentifier\fR which is either a name (such as ``Smith'') or a handle (such
20as ``SRI-NIC''). To force a name-only search, precede the name with a period;
21to force a handle-only search, precede the handle with an exclamation point.
22.sp
23.LP
24To search for a group or organization entry, precede the argument with \fB*\fR
25(an asterisk). The entire membership list of the group will be displayed with
26the record.
27.sp
28.LP
29You may of course use an exclamation point and asterisk, or a period and
30asterisk together.
31.SH EXAMPLES
32.LP
33\fBExample 1 \fRUsing The \fBwhois\fR Command
34.sp
35.LP
36The command:
13The
14\fBwhois\fP
15utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
16Network Information Centers (NICs).
37
17
38.sp
39.in +2
40.nf
41example% whois Smith
42.fi
43.in -2
44.sp
18The options are as follows:
19.TP
20\fB\-a\fP
21Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) database.
22It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world covered neither by
23APNIC, AfriNIC, LACNIC, nor by RIPE.
45
24
46.sp
47.LP
48looks for the name or handle SMITH.
25(Hint: All point of contact handles in the ARIN whois database end with -ARIN.)
49
26
50.sp
51.LP
52The command:
27.TP
28\fB\-A\fP
29Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) database.
30It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
31New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
32.TP
33\fB\-b\fP
34Use the Network Abuse Clearinghouse database.
35It contains addresses to which network abuse should be reported,
36indexed by domain name.
37.TP
38\fB\-c\fP \fIcountry-code\fP
39This is the equivalent of using the
40\fB\-h\fP
41option with an argument of \fIcountry-code\fP.whois-servers.net.
42.TP
43\fB\-f\fP
44Use the African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) database.
45It contains network numbers used in Africa and the islands of the
46western Indian Ocean.
47.TP
48\fB\-g\fP
49Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
50contact for subdomains of
51\fI\&.GOV\fP.
52.TP
53\fB\-h\fP \fIhost\fP
54Use the specified host instead of the default variant.
55Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
53
56
54.sp
55.in +2
56.nf
57example% whois !SRI-NIC
58.fi
59.in -2
60.sp
57By default
58\fBwhois\fP
59constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain (TLD)
60of the supplied (single) argument, and appending .whois-servers.net .
61This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
62automatically for a large number of TLDs.
61
63
62.sp
63.LP
64looks for the handle SRI-NIC only.
64In the event that an IP
65address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
66Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN).
67If a query to ARIN references APNIC, AfriNIC, LACNIC, or RIPE,
68that server will be queried also, provided that the
69\fB\-Q\fP
70option is not specified.
65
71
66.sp
67.LP
68The command:
72If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
73\fBwhois\fP
74will fall back to
75\fIwhois.crsnic.net\fP.
76.TP
77\fB\-i\fP
78Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
79(\fIwhois.networksolutions.com\fP)
80database.
81It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of
82\fI\&.COM\fP,.NET,.ORG
83and
84\fI\&.EDU\fP
85domains.
69
86
70.sp
71.in +2
72.nf
73example% whois .Smith, John
74.fi
75.in -2
76.sp
87.B NOTE !
88The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
89independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
90on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
91Also, note that the InterNIC database
92(\fIwhois.internic.net\fP)
93is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
94For details, see
95\fIhttp://www.internic.net/\fP.
77
96
78.sp
79.LP
80looks for the name \fBJOHN SMITH\fR only.
97(Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
98.IR handle ,
99can be looked up by prefixing "handle" to the NIC
100handle in the query.)
101.TP
102\fB\-I\fP
103Use the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) database.
104It contains network information for top-level domains.
105.TP
106\fB\-k\fP
107Use the National Internet Development Agency of Korea's (KRNIC)
108database.
109It contains network numbers and domain contact information
110for Korea.
111.TP
112\fB\-l\fP
113Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
114(Tn LACNIC)
115database.
116It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
117Caribbean.
118.TP
119\fB\-m\fP
120Use the Route Arbiter Database (RADB) database.
121It contains route policy specifications for a large
122number of operators' networks.
123.TP
124\fB\-p\fP \fIport\fP
125Connect to the whois server on
126\fIport\fP.
127If this option is not specified,
128\fBwhois\fP
129defaults to port 43.
130.TP
131\fB\-Q\fP
132Do a quick lookup.
133This means that
134\fBwhois\fP
135will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
136server (if one is listed).
137This option has no effect when combined with any other options.
138.TP
139\fB\-r\fP
140Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens (RIPE) database.
141It contains network numbers and domain contact information
142for Europe.
81
143
82.sp
83.LP
84Adding \fB\&.\|.\|.\fR to the name or handle argument will match anything from
85that point; that is, \fBZU .\|.\|.\fR will match ZUL, ZUM, and so on.
144The operands specified to
145\fBwhois\fP
146are treated independently and may be used
147as queries on different whois servers.
148.SH EXIT STATUS
149The \fBwhois\fP utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.
150.SH EXAMPLES
151Most types of data, such as domain names and IP addresses, can be used as
152arguments to
153\fBwhois\fP
154without any options, and
155\fBwhois\fP
156will choose the correct whois server to query.
157Some exceptions, where
158\fBwhois\fP
159will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
86
160
161To obtain contact information about an
162administrator located in the Russian TLD domain RU,
163use the
164\fB\-c\fP
165option as shown in the following example, where
166\fICONTACT-ID\fP
167is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
168
169whois -c RU CONTACT-ID
170
171(Note: This example is specific to the TLD RU,
172but other TLDs can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
173
174The following example demonstrates how to query
175a whois server using a non-standard port, where
176``query-data''
177is the query to be sent to
178``whois.example.com''
179on port
180``rwhois''
181(written numerically as 4321).
182
183whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data
87.SH SEE ALSO
184.SH SEE ALSO
88.sp
89.LP
90\fBattributes\fR(5)
185
186Vic White and Ken Harrenstien, \fINICNAME/WHOIS\fP, 1 March 1982, RFC 812.
187.SH HISTORY
188The
189\fBwhois\fP
190command appeared in
1914.3BSD.