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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 TCP/IP Internet directory service, RIPE version .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm "" .Op Fl 46aFSrR .Op Fl h Ar host .Op Fl p Ar port .Op Fl i Ar attributes .Op Fl s Ar sources .Op Fl T Ns Ar types .Op Fl L | m | M .Ar identifier .Nm "" .Fl t Ar type .Nm "" .Fl v Ar type .Sh DESCRIPTION .Nm searches for an object in the RIPE Network Management database. The key can be either a name (such as "Karrenberg"),a nic-handle (such as "DK58"), a network number ("192.87.45.0/24") or a domain name ("ripe.net").
p This version of the whois client works with a version of the RIPE database whois server that supports classless IP addresses. All IP network numbers are considered classless IP network numbers of the form prefix/length, like 192.87.45.0/24 for a class C sized network number and 128.86.0.0/16 for a class B sized network number. Any length can be given. If no length is given, the server assumes a host lookup (ie length 32).
p By default, the server will return the first less specific network number, which can be an exact match if available in the database. .Sh OPTIONS l -tag -width indent t Fl a This causes the server to include information from non-RIPE whois databases in the reply. Currently these are the public parts of the US NIC and NSFnet databases. Please note that the RIPE NCC does not maintain these databases. The information is included for for your convenience only. t Fl F fast output. Force the whois server to not reformat the output. This can save time for large objects. The output of the RIPE whois server will be in two letter short form. This option implies -r. t Fl h Ar host Select alternate host to direct the query t Fl p Ar port Connect to port 'port' t Fl L lookup all less specific networks. Has effect only when looking up IP network numbers. t Fl m lookup first level more specific networks. Has effect only when looking up IP network numbers. t Fl M lookup all more specific networks. Has effect only when looking up IP network numbers. t Fl r non-recursive lookup. This will cause the server to not lookup referenced objects. t Fl R suppress referrals. Forces local copy of a domain object to be shown even if it contains referral. t Fl i Ar attributes attributes is a comma separated list of attributes. the whois server will return all objects that match the search keys in one of these attributes. t Fl s Ar sources sources is a comma separated list of database sources. The whois server will only search the databases that match the specified sources. t Fl S requests the server to leave out "syntactic sugar" that may normally be inserted in some database objects. t Fl t Ar type requests the server to send a template for an object with type "type". t Fl v Ar type requests the server to send a verbose template for an object with type "type". t Fl T Ar types types is a comma separated list of object types. requests the server to only send back objects that match one of the "types". By default, whois connect to whois server both IPv6 and IPv4. If you want to connect IPv4 only, you use t Fl 4 option, and if you want to connect IPv6 only, you use t Fl 6 option. .El .Lp .Sh EXAMPLES d -literal -offset indent $ whois karrenberg person: Daniel Karrenberg address: RIPE Network Coordination Centre address: Kruislaan 409 address: NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam address: Netherlands phone: +31 20 5925065 fax-no: +31 20 5925155 e-mail: dfk (at] ripe.net nic-hdl: DK58 changed: dfk (at] ripe.net 920407 changed: ripe-dbm (at] ripe.net 920407 source: RIPE $ whois -h whois.ripe.net -r 192.87.45.0/24 inetnum: 192.87.45.0 netname: RIPE-NCC descr: RIPE Network Coordination Centre descr: Amsterdam, Netherlands country: NL admin-c: Daniel Karrenberg tech-c: Marten Terpstra connect: RIPE NSF WCW aut-sys: AS3333 ias-int: 192.87.45.80 AS1104 ias-int: 192.87.45.6 AS2122 ias-int: 192.87.45.254 AS2600 rev-srv: ns.ripe.net rev-srv: ns.eu.net notify: ops (at] ripe.net changed: tony (at] ripe.net 940110 source: RIPE .Ed .Sh RIPE VERSION This is the RIPE version of the whois client program. For questions refer to <ncc (at] ripe.net>. For more information about the RIPE database please also refer to <ncc (at] ripe.net>. .Lp .Sh IPv6 supported This whois support the IPv6
q IP version 6 whois connections. This whois is get the all of host's Information from nameserver, and connect order is
q if exists
IPv6 addresses of server at first and IPv4 address is later.
.Lp
.Sh BUGS
Most of the extra flags are ONLY supported by the RIPE whois server,
or copies of the same version of the software. Usage of these flags
may cause errors on other whois servers.
.Nm
depends on
.Xr getaddrinfo 3
functions and search order depends on the function.
.Sh SEE ALSO
RFC 812: NICNAME/WHOIS
Indexes created Thu Oct 30 16:09:53 GMT 2025