.\" Copyright (c) 1985 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\" @(#)whois.1 6.1 (Berkeley) %G%
whois \- DARPA Internet user name directory service
Produces a helpful message similar to the following:
Please enter a name or a handle (``ident"), such as ``Smith"
Starting with a period forces a name-only search;
starting with exclamation point forces handle-only.
Smith [looks for name or handle SMITH ]
!SRI-NIC [looks for handle SRI-NIC only ]
.Smith, John [looks for name JOHN SMITH only ]
Adding ``..." to the argument will match anything from that point,
e.g. ``ZU..." will match ZUL, ZUM, etc.
To have the ENTIRE membership list of a group or organization,
if you are asking about a group or org, shown with the record, use
an asterisk character `*' directly preceding the given argument.
[CAUTION: If there are a lot of members this will take a long time!]
You may of course use exclamation point and asterisk, or a period
/usr/doc/local/netinfo/rfc812