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.\"     @(#)whois.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 6/20/94
.\"
.Dd June 20, 1994
.Dt WHOIS 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm whois
.Nd Internet domain name and network number directory service
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm whois
.Op Fl adgipqQrR
.Op Fl h Ar host
.Ar name Op Ar ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
looks up records in the databases maintained by several
Network Information Centers
.Pq Tn NICs Ns .
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl a
Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
.Pq Tn ARIN
database.
It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
covered neither by
.Tn APNIC nor by
.Tn RIPE .
.It Fl d
Use the (US Military) Defense Data Network
.Pq Tn DDN
database.
It contains points of contact for subdomains of
.Tn \&.MIL Ns .
.It Fl g
Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
contact for subdomains of
.Tn \&.GOV Ns .
.It Fl h Ar host
Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
(whois.crsnic.net).
Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
.It Fl i
Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
.Pq Tn InterNIC
database.
It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of
.Tn \&.COM ,
.Tn \&.NET ,
.Tn \&.ORG
and
.Tn \&.EDU
domains.
.It Fl m
Use the Route Arbiter Database
.Pq Tn RADB
database.
It contains route policy specifications for a large
number of operators' networks.
.It Fl p
Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
.Pq Tn APNIC
database.
It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
.It Fl q
Construct the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
.Pq Tn TLD
of the supplied (single) argument, and appending ".whois-servers.net".
This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
automatically for a large number of TLDs, i.e., all of the following will
.Ql just work :
.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
  whois -q patho.gen.nz
  whois -q microsoft.com
  whois -q nasa.gov
  whois -q nic.fr
  whois -q demon.co.uk
.Ed
.Pp
This option is now the default.
.Pp
.It Fl Q
Do a quick lookup.
This means that
.Nm
will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoratative whois
server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
fails.
This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
.It Fl r
Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
.Pq Tn RIPE
database.
It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
.It Fl R
Use the Russia Network Information Center
.Pq Tn RIPN
database.
It contains network numbers and domain contact information
for subdomains of
.Tn \&.RU Ns .
.El
.Pp
The operands specified to
.Nm
are concatenated together (separated by whitespace) and presented to
the
.Nm
server.
.Pp
The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
.Ar name ,
is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
.Ar name
in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
address, etc.) in the database.
For more information as to what
.Ar name
operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
the special name
.Dq help .
.Sh SEE ALSO
RFC 812: Nicname/Whois
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
command appeared in
.Bx 4.3 .