NAME

whois − DARPA Internet user name directory service

SYNOPSIS

whois [ −h host ] identifier

DESCRIPTION

whois searches for an ARPANET directory entry for an identifier which is either a name (such as “Smith”) or a handle (such as “SRI-NIC”).  You can force a name-only search by preceding the name with a period; you can force a handle-only search by preceding the handle with an exclamation point. See EXAMPLES. 

If you are searching for a group or organization entry, you can have the entire membership list of the group displayed with the record by preceding the argument with ‘∗’ ( an asterisk). 

You may of course use an exclamation point and asterisk, or a period and asterisk together. 

EXAMPLES

example% whois Smith

looks for name or handle SMITH.

example% whois !SRI-NIC

looks for handle SRI-NIC only. 

example% whois .Smith, John

looks for name JOHN SMITH only. 

Adding ‘...’ to the name or handle argument will match anything from that point; that is, ‘ZU...’ will match ZUL, ZUM, etc. 

Sun Release 4.0  —  Last change: 9 September 1987