WHOIS(1) BSD Reference Manual WHOIS(1)NAMEwhois - Internet user name directory service
SYNOPSISwhois [-h hostname] name ...
DESCRIPTION
Whois looks up records in the Network Information Center (NIC) database.
The operands specified to whois are concatenated together (separated by
white-space) and presented to the whois server.
Whois uses the server listed in /etc/whois.conf, or the default NIC
(whois.internic.net). This can be overridden by the command line option:
-h Use the server listed on the command line.
All command-line options, except -h are sent to the remote whois server
and not processed locally.
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
RIPE-157: RIPE NCC database documentation
HISTORY
The whois command appeared in 4.3BSD.
4.3 Berkeley Distribution June 20, 1994 1