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)
