.TH whois 1 "" "" Unsupported.SH Namewhois \- DARPA Internet user name directory service.SH Syntax.B whois [ \-h \fIservername\fP ] \fIname\fP.SH Description.NXR "whois command"The.PN whoiscommand allows you to look up people, hosts, and organizations in the databasekept by the Network Information Center (NIC) at SRI International.The.I namecan be the last name of a registered user, or the name of a registeredInternet host, or other things recognized by the whois server. Not all users, and only a few Internet hosts, are registered with theNIC.  If the .I nameargument contains white space or other special characters, you mustsurround it with double quote (") marks to prevent its interpretation by the shell..PP.PPThe WHOIS server at the NIC will provide more information on doingcomplex searches if you do.EX 5whois "?".EE(note the quotes around the question mark), or even more informationif you do.EX 5whois help.EE.SH Options.IP "\-h \fIservername\fP" 15Specifies the whois server on a host other than the default (NIC.DDN.MIL)..SH Examples.EX 5whois cerfwhois dec.comwhois -h ns.nic.ddn.mil knuthwhois smith.EENote that the last example, at least, will match many records(and may take fairly long to complete).  The whois server at the NIC willautomatically provide information on how to single out one record.Remember to put quotes around strings that contain `!' characters..SH See AlsoRFC 812:  Nicname/Whois