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WHOIS(1)		     General Commands Manual			WHOIS(1)

NAME
     whois -- Internet domain name and network number directory service

SYNOPSIS
     whois [-adgimpQrR6] [-c country-code | -h host] name ...

DESCRIPTION
     whois  looks  up records in the databases maintained by several Network In-
     formation Centers (NICs).

     The options are as follows:

     -a      Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) database.  It
	     contains network numbers used in those parts of the  world  covered
	     neither by APNIC nor by RIPE.

	     (Hint:  All point of contact handles in the ARIN whois database end
	     with "-ARIN".)

     -c country-code
	     This is the equivalent of using the -h option with an  argument  of
	     "country-code.whois-servers.net".

     -d      Use  the  US Department of Defense database.  It contains points of
	     contact for subdomains of .MIL.

     -g      Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains
	     points of contact for subdomains of .GOV.

     -h host
	     Use the specified host instead of the default  variant.   Either  a
	     host name or an IP address may be specified.

	     By  default whois constructs the name of a whois server to use from
	     the top-level domain (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.

	     In the event that an IP address is specified, the whois server will
	     default to the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN).  If a
	     query to ARIN references APNIC or RIPE, that server will be queried
	     also, provided that the -Q option is not specified.

	     If the query is not a domain name or IP address,  whois  will  fall
	     back to whois.crsnic.net.

     -i      Use   the	 Network   Solutions   Registry   for  Internet  Numbers
	     (whois.networksolutions.com) database.  It contains network numbers
	     and domain contact information for most of  .COM,	.NET,  .ORG  and
	     .EDU domains.

	     NOTE!  The registration of these domains is now done by a number of
	     independent and competing registrars and this database holds no in-
	     formation	on  the  domains  registered by organizations other than
	     Network Solutions, Inc.  Also,  note  that  the  InterNIC	database
	     (whois.internic.net)  is  no  longer  handled by Network Solutions,
	     Inc.  For details, see http://www.internic.net/.

	     (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term handle,  can  be
	     looked up by prefixing "handle " to the NIC handle in the query.)

     -m      Use  the Route Arbiter Database (RADB) database.  It contains route
	     policy specifications for a large number of operators' networks.

     -p      Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center  (APNIC)  database.
	     It  contains  network  numbers  used  in  East Asia, Australia, New
	     Zealand, and the Pacific islands.

     -Q      Do a quick lookup.  This means  that  whois  will	not  attempt  to
	     lookup  the  name	in  the  authoritative	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.

     -r      Use  the  R'eseaux IP Europ'eens (RIPE) database.	It contains net-
	     work numbers and domain contact information for Europe.

     -R      Use the Russia Network Information Center (RIPN) database.  It con-
	     tains network numbers and domain contact information for subdomains
	     of .RU.

     -6      Use the IPv6 Resource Center (6bone) database.  It contains network
	     names and addresses for the IPv6 network.

     The operands specified to whois are  concatenated	together  (separated  by
     white-space) and presented to the whois server.

     The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special name, is to do
     a	very  broad  search, looking for matches to name in all types of records
     and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net address, etc.) in the data-
     base.  For more information as to what name operands have special	meaning,
     and how to guide the search, use the special name "help".

EXAMPLES
     Most  types  of data, such as domain names and IP addresses, can be used as
     arguments to whois without any options, and whois will choose  the  correct
     whois  server  to	query.	Some exceptions, where whois will not be able to
     handled data correctly, are detailed below.

     To obtain contact information about an administrator located in the Russian
     TLD domain "RU", use the -c option as shown in the following example, where
     CONTACT-ID is substituted with the actual contact identifier.

	   whois -c RU CONTACT-ID

     (Note: This example is specific to the TLD "RU",  but  other  TLDs  can  be
     queried by using a similar syntax.)

     The  following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an IPv6
     address or hostname using the -6 option, which directs the query to 6bone.

	   whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address

SEE ALSO
     Ken Harrenstien and Vic White, NICNAME/WHOIS, 1 March 1982, RFC 812.

HISTORY
     The whois command appeared in 4.3BSD.

FreeBSD 4.5			September 4, 2001			WHOIS(1)
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