.\"	$OpenBSD: whois.1,v 1.5 1999/06/05 01:21:51 aaron Exp $
.\"	$NetBSD: whois.1,v 1.5 1995/08/31 21:51:32 jtc Exp $
.\"
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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 adpr
.Op Fl h Ar host
.Ar name Op Ar ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm whois
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 h Ar host
Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
(whois.internic.net).
Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
.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 r
Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
.Pq Tn RIPE
database.  It contains network numbers and domain contact information
for Europe.
.El
.Pp
The operands specified to
.Nm whois
are concatenated together (separated by white-space) and presented to
the
.Nm whois
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 Ar help .
.Sh SEE ALSO
RFC 812: Nicname/Whois
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm whois
command appeared in
.Bx 4.3 .