whois(1) whois(1)
NAME
whois - Internet user name directory service
SYNOPSIS
whois [ -h hostname ] name ...
DESCRIPTION
Whois looks up records in the Network Information Center (NIC)
database.
OPTIONS
-h uses the specified host instead of the default NIC
(whois.internic.net).
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 database. For more information as to what name operands have
special meaning, and how to guide the search, use the special name
help .
SEE ALSO
RFC 812: Nicname/Whois
HISTORY
The whois command appeared in BSD 4.3.
- 1 - Formatted: January 15, 2025
