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28 .\" From: @(#)whois.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
29 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1,v 1.15.2.9 2002/11/17 15:05:55 mike Exp $
30 .\" $DragonFly: src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1,v 1.4 2005/01/09 13:30:06 liamfoy Exp $
37 .Nd "Internet domain name and network number directory service"
41 .Op Fl c Ar country-code | Fl h Ar host
47 utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
48 Network Information Centers
51 The options are as follows:
52 .Bl -tag -width indent
54 Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
57 It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world covered neither by
62 (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
64 whois database end with
68 Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
71 It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
72 New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
74 Use the Network Abuse Clearinghouse database.
75 It contains addresses to which network abuse should be reported,
76 indexed by domain name.
77 .It Fl c Ar country-code
78 This is the equivalent of using the
80 option with an argument of
81 .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
83 Use the US Department of Defense
85 It contains points of contact for subdomains of
88 Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
89 contact for subdomains of
92 Use the specified host instead of the default variant.
93 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
97 constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
99 of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
100 .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
101 This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
102 automatically for a large number of
105 In the event that an IP
106 address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
107 Registry for Internet Numbers
115 that server will be queried also, provided that the
117 option is not specified.
119 If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
122 .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
124 Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
125 .Pq Pa whois.networksolutions.com
127 It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of
128 .Pa .COM , .NET , .ORG
134 The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
135 independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
136 on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
140 .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
141 is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
143 .Pa http://www.internic.net/ .
145 (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
147 can be looked up by prefixing
151 handle in the query.)
153 Use the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
156 It contains network information for top-level domains.
158 Use the National Internet Development Agency of Korea's
161 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
164 Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
167 It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
170 Use the Route Arbiter Database
173 It contains route policy specifications for a large
174 number of operators' networks.
176 Connect to the whois server on
178 If this option is not specified,
185 will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
186 server (if one is listed).
187 This option has no effect when combined with any other options.
189 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
192 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
195 Use the Russia Network Information Center
198 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
201 This option is deprecated; use the
203 option with an argument of
207 Use the IPv6 Resource Center
210 It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
213 The operands specified to
215 are treated independently and may be used
216 as queries on different whois servers.
218 Most types of data, such as domain names and
220 addresses, can be used as arguments to
222 without any options, and
224 will choose the correct whois server to query.
225 Some exceptions, where
227 will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
229 To obtain contact information about an
230 administrator located in the Russian
236 option as shown in the following example, where
238 is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
240 .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
242 (Note: This example is specific to the
247 can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
249 The following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an
251 address or hostname using the
253 option, which directs the query to
256 .Dl "whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address"
258 The following example demonstrates how to query
259 a whois server using a non-standard port, where
261 is the query to be sent to
262 .Dq Li whois.example.com
265 (written numerically as 4321).
267 .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"