| -a | Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) database. It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world covered neither by APNIC nor by RIPE. (Hint: All point of contact handles in the ARIN whois database end with "-ARIN.") |
| -A | Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) database. It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands. |
| -b | Use the Network Abuse Clearinghouse database. It contains addresses to which network abuse should be reported, indexed by domain name. |
| -c country-code |
| | This is the equivalent of using the -h option with an argument of "country-code .whois-servers.net". |
| -d | Use the US Department of Defense database. It contains points of contact for subdomains of .MIL. |
| -g | Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of contact for subdomains of .GOV. |
| -h host |
| | Use the specified host instead of the default variant. Either a host name or an IP address may be specified. By default whois constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain (TLD) of the supplied (single) argument, and appending ".whois-servers.net". This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected automatically for a large number of TLDs. In the event that an IP address is specified, the whois server will default to the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). If a query to ARIN references APNIC, LACNIC, or RIPE, that server will be queried also, provided that the -Q option is not specified. If the query is not a domain name or IP address, whois will fall back to whois.crsnic.net. |
| -i | Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers (whois.networksolutions.com) database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information for most of .COM, .NET, .ORG and .EDU domains. NOTE ! The registration of these domains is now done by a number of independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc. Also, note that the InterNIC database (whois.internic.net) is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc. For details, see http://www.internic.net/. (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term handle, can be looked up by prefixing ""handle "" to the NIC handle in the query.) |
| -I | Use the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) database. It contains network information for top-level domains. |
| -k | Use the National Internet Development Agency of Korea’s (KRNIC) database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Korea. |
| -l | Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry (LACNIC) database. It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the Caribbean. |
| -m | Use the Route Arbiter Database (RADB) database. It contains route policy specifications for a large number of operators’ networks. |
| -p port |
| | Connect to the whois server on port. If this option is not specified, whois defaults to port 43. |
| -Q | Do a quick lookup. This means that whois will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois server (if one is listed). This option has no effect when combined with any other options. |
| -r | Use the R´eseaux IP Europ´eens (RIPE) database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe. |
| -R | Use the Russia Network Information Center (RIPN) database. It contains network numbers and domain contact information for subdomains of .RU. This option is deprecated; use the -c option with an argument of "RU" instead. |
| -6 | Use the IPv6 Resource Center (6bone) database. It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network. |
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