Annotation of src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1, Revision 1.8
1.8 ! millert 1: .\" $OpenBSD: whois.1,v 1.7 1999/10/04 16:44:09 deraadt Exp $
1.1 deraadt 2: .\" $NetBSD: whois.1,v 1.5 1995/08/31 21:51:32 jtc Exp $
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35: .\" @(#)whois.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 6/20/94
36: .\"
37: .Dd June 20, 1994
38: .Dt WHOIS 1
1.5 aaron 39: .Os
1.1 deraadt 40: .Sh NAME
41: .Nm whois
1.3 deraadt 42: .Nd Internet domain name and network number directory service
1.1 deraadt 43: .Sh SYNOPSIS
44: .Nm whois
1.8 ! millert 45: .Op Fl adgiprR
1.3 deraadt 46: .Op Fl h Ar host
1.4 aaron 47: .Ar name Op Ar ...
1.1 deraadt 48: .Sh DESCRIPTION
1.4 aaron 49: .Nm whois
1.3 deraadt 50: looks up records in the databases maintained by several
51: Network Information Centers
52: .Pq Tn NICs Ns .
1.1 deraadt 53: .Pp
54: The options are as follows:
55: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.3 deraadt 56: .It Fl a
57: Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
58: .Pq Tn ARIN
59: database. It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
60: covered neither by
61: .Tn APNIC nor by
62: .Tn RIPE .
63: .It Fl d
64: Use the (US Military) Defense Data Network
65: .Pq Tn DDN
66: database. It contains points of contact for subdomains of
67: .Tn \&.MIL Ns .
1.8 ! millert 68: .It Fl g
! 69: Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
! 70: contact for subdomains of
! 71: .Tn \&.GOV Ns .
1.3 deraadt 72: .It Fl h Ar host
73: Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
1.8 ! millert 74: (whois.crsnic.net).
1.3 deraadt 75: Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
1.8 ! millert 76: .It Fl i
! 77: Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
! 78: .Pq Tn InterNIC
! 79: database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information
! 80: for most of
! 81: .Tn \&.COM ,
! 82: .Tn \&.NET ,
! 83: .Tn \&.ORG
! 84: and
! 85: .Tn \&.EDU
! 86: domains.
1.6 deraadt 87: .It Fl m
88: Use the Route Arbiter Database
89: .Pq Tn RADB
90: database. It contains route policy specifications for a large
91: number of operators' networks.
1.3 deraadt 92: .It Fl p
93: Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
94: .Pq Tn APNIC
95: database. It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
96: New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
1.6 deraadt 97: .It Fl q
98: Construct the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
99: .Pq Tn TLD
100: of the supplied (single) argument, and appending ".whois-servers.net".
101: This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
1.7 deraadt 102: automatically for a large number of TLDs, ie. all of the following will
103: .Ql just work :
104: .Pp
105: .Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
106: whois -q patho.gen.nz
107: whois -q microsoft.com
108: whois -q nasa.gov
109: whois -q nic.fr
110: whois -q demon.co.uk
111: .Ed
112: .Pp
1.3 deraadt 113: .It Fl r
114: Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
115: .Pq Tn RIPE
116: database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information
117: for Europe.
1.8 ! millert 118: .It Fl R
! 119: Use the Russia Network Information Center
! 120: .Pq Tn RIPN
! 121: database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information
! 122: for subdomains of
! 123: .Tn \&.RU Ns .
1.1 deraadt 124: .El
125: .Pp
126: The operands specified to
127: .Nm whois
128: are concatenated together (separated by white-space) and presented to
129: the
130: .Nm whois
131: server.
132: .Pp
133: The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
134: .Ar name ,
135: is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
136: .Ar name
137: in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
138: address, etc.) in the database.
139: For more information as to what
140: .Ar name
141: operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
142: the special name
143: .Dq Ar help .
144: .Sh SEE ALSO
145: RFC 812: Nicname/Whois
146: .Sh HISTORY
147: The
148: .Nm whois
149: command appeared in
150: .Bx 4.3 .
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