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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 $
36 .Nd "Internet domain name and network number directory service"
40 .Op Fl c Ar country-code | Fl h Ar host
46 utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
47 Network Information Centers
50 The options are as follows:
51 .Bl -tag -width indent
53 Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
56 It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world covered neither by
61 (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
63 whois database end with
66 Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
69 It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
70 New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
72 Use the Network Abuse Clearinghouse database.
73 It contains addresses to which network abuse should be reported,
74 indexed by domain name.
75 .It Fl c Ar country-code
76 This is the equivalent of using the
78 option with an argument of
79 .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
81 Use the US Department of Defense
83 It contains points of contact for subdomains of
86 Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
87 contact for subdomains of
90 Use the specified host instead of the default variant.
91 Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
95 constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
97 of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
98 .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
99 This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
100 automatically for a large number of
103 In the event that an IP
104 address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
105 Registry for Internet Numbers
113 that server will be queried also, provided that the
115 option is not specified.
117 If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
120 .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
122 Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
123 .Pq Pa whois.networksolutions.com
125 It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of
126 .Pa .COM , .NET , .ORG
132 The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
133 independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
134 on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
138 .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
139 is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
141 .Pa http://www.internic.net/ .
143 (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
145 can be looked up by prefixing
149 handle in the query.)
151 Use the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
154 It contains network information for top-level domains.
156 Use the National Internet Development Agency of Korea's
159 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
162 Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
165 It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
168 Use the Route Arbiter Database
171 It contains route policy specifications for a large
172 number of operators' networks.
174 Connect to the whois server on
176 If this option is not specified,
183 will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
184 server (if one is listed).
185 This option has no effect when combined with any other options.
187 Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
190 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
193 Use the Russia Network Information Center
196 It contains network numbers and domain contact information
199 This option is deprecated; use the
201 option with an argument of
205 Use the IPv6 Resource Center
208 It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
211 The operands specified to
213 are treated independently and may be used
214 as queries on different whois servers.
216 Most types of data, such as domain names and
218 addresses, can be used as arguments to
220 without any options, and
222 will choose the correct whois server to query.
223 Some exceptions, where
225 will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
227 To obtain contact information about an
228 administrator located in the Russian
234 option as shown in the following example, where
236 is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
238 .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
240 (Note: This example is specific to the
245 can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
247 The following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an
249 address or hostname using the
251 option, which directs the query to
254 .Dl "whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address"
256 The following example demonstrates how to query
257 a whois server using a non-standard port, where
259 is the query to be sent to
260 .Dq Li whois.example.com
263 (written numerically as 4321).
265 .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"