[unix-history] / usr.bin / whois / whois.1

.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\"     @(#)whois.1	6.6 (Berkeley) 4/23/91
.\"
.Dt WHOIS 1
.Dd April 23, 1991
.Os BSD 4.3
.Sh NAME
.Nm whois
.Nd Internet user name directory service
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm whois
.Op Fl h Ar hostname
.Ar name ...
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm Whois
looks up records in the Network Information Center
.Pq Tn NIC
database.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl h
Use the specified host instead of the default NIC (nic.ddn.mil).
.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
command appeared in
.Bx 4.3 .
Commit	Line	Data
15637ed4 RG	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1985, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
	2	.\" All rights reserved.
	3	.\"
	4	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
	5	.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
	6	.\" are met:
	7	.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
	8	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
	9	.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
	10	.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
	11	.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
	12	.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
	13	.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
	14	.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
	15	.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
	16	.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
	17	.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
	18	.\" without specific prior written permission.
	19	.\"
	20	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
	21	.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
	22	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
	23	.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
	24	.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
	25	.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
	26	.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
	27	.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
	28	.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
	29	.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
	30	.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
	31	.\"
	32	.\" @(#)whois.1 6.6 (Berkeley) 4/23/91
	33	.\"
	34	.Dt WHOIS 1
	35	.Dd April 23, 1991
	36	.Os BSD 4.3
	37	.Sh NAME
	38	.Nm whois
	39	.Nd Internet user name directory service
	40	.Sh SYNOPSIS
	41	.Nm whois
	42	.Op Fl h Ar hostname
	43	.Ar name ...
	44	.Sh DESCRIPTION
	45	.Nm Whois
	46	looks up records in the Network Information Center
	47	.Pq Tn NIC
	48	database.
	49	.Pp
	50	The options are as follows:
	51	.Bl -tag -width Ds
	52	.It Fl h
	53	Use the specified host instead of the default NIC (nic.ddn.mil).
	54	.El
	55	.Pp
	56	The operands specified to
	57	.Nm whois
	58	are concatenated together (separated by white-space) and presented to
	59	the
	60	.Nm whois
	61	server.
	62	.Pp
	63	The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
	64	.Ar name ,
65	is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
66	.Ar name
67	in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
68	address, etc.) in the database.
69	For more information as to what
70	.Ar name
71	operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
72	the special name
73	.Dq Ar help .
74	.Sh SEE ALSO
75	RFC 812: Nicname/Whois
76	.Sh HISTORY
77	The
78	.Nm
79	command appeared in
80	.Bx 4.3 .