bsd man page for whois

WHOIS(1)						      General Commands Manual							  WHOIS(1)

NAME
       whois - DARPA Internet user name directory service

SYNOPSIS
       whois name

DESCRIPTION
       whois help
	      Produces a helpful message similar to the following:

       Please  enter  a  name  or a handle (``ident"), such as ``Smith" or ``SRI-NIC".	Starting with a period forces a name-only search; starting
       with exclamation point forces handle-only.  Examples:
	    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 aster-
       isk  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 and asterisk together.

SEE ALSO
       RFC 812:  Nicname/Whois

4.3 Berkeley Distribution					   June 6, 1985 							  WHOIS(1)