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31 .\" @(#)whois.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 6/20/94
38 .Nd Internet domain name and network number directory service
43 .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:
57 Use the IPv6 Resource Center
60 It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
62 Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
65 It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
66 New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
68 Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
71 It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
79 (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
81 whois database end with
83 .It Fl c Ar country-code
84 This is the equivalent of using the
86 option with an argument of
87 .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
89 Use the US Department of Defense database.
90 It contains points of contact for subdomains of
93 Use the African Network Information Center
96 It contains network numbers used in Africa.
98 Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
99 contact for subdomains of
102 Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
104 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
108 constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
110 of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
111 .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
112 This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
113 automatically for a large number of
116 In the event that an IP
117 address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
118 Registry for Internet Numbers
123 .Tn AfriNIC, APNIC , LACNIC ,
126 that server will be queried also, provided that the
128 option is not specified.
130 If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
133 .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
135 Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
136 .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
138 Historically, it contained network numbers and domain contact information
146 However, the registration of these domains is now done by a number of
147 independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
148 on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
152 .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
153 is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
155 .Lk http://www.internic.net/ .
157 (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
159 can be looked up by prefixing
165 handle in the query.)
167 Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
170 It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
173 Use the Route Arbiter Database
176 It contains route policy specifications for a large
177 number of operators' networks.
179 Connect to the whois server on
181 If this option is not specified,
192 will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
193 server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
195 This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
197 Use the Russia Network Information Center
200 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
203 This option is deprecated; use the
205 option with an argument of
209 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
212 It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
215 The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
217 is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
219 in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
220 address, etc.) in the database.
221 For more information as to what
223 operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
227 Queries beginning with an exclamation point
232 Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
233 .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
238 Similarly, queries beginning with
243 Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
244 .Pq Tn whois.corenic.net
249 Most types of data, such as domain names and
251 addresses, can be used as arguments to
253 without any options, and
255 will choose the correct whois server to query.
256 Some exceptions, where
258 will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
260 To obtain contact information about an
261 administrator located in the Russian
267 option as shown in the following example, where
269 is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
271 .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
273 (Note: This example is specific to the
278 can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
280 The following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an
282 address or hostname using the
284 option, which directs the query to
287 .Dl "whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address"
289 The following example demonstrates how to query
290 a whois server using a non-standard port, where
292 is the query to be sent to
293 .Dq Li whois.example.com
296 (written numerically as 4321).
298 .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"