Terminal Tip: using whois

Whois or "Who is," is a way to query for contact information (or domain name ownership information) about the person or company in control of a site. If you want to know who runs a website, you don't have to look any further than your Mac and opening a Terminal window.

All you have to do is open Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities/) and type in "whois" and space followed by a URL. For instance, the following command would give you the whois information for tuaw.com: whois tuaw.com.

You can do this for almost any website; however, some domain names use some form of a hiding service from their registrar that allows them to hide their contact information. Be forewarned that you shouldn't use information like this to stalk people!

Please note that if you have Terminal-itis, or are scared of the Terminal, you can use Apple's Network Utility in Mac OS X to do a whois query. Just open Network Utility.app (in the /Applications/Utilities/) and click the "whois" tab. From there you can enter a URL and do a query, all within a pretty "Aqua-licious" user interface.

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Whois or "Who is," is a way to query for contact information (or domain name ownership information) about the person or company in control...

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Luigi193

Whois from terminal is SO MUCH better then using Network Utility!!! So much faster...

I am new to terminal, but am realllly loving it lately!

March 14 2008 at 9:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Not an Asshat

Coming tomorrow! Double-clicking to launch an application that's not in your Dock!

March 13 2008 at 11:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

SnO2

Does anyone know of a way to search whois/registration info for certain fields? For example, finding all domain registered with a specific zip code or email address or between dates?

March 13 2008 at 3:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to SnO2's comment

Brian

You can do a whois domain.com | grep -i entersearchfield or awk if you're really fancy...

March 14 2008 at 12:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

SnO2

Thanks Brian. Although, what I'd really like is some sort of database information. Meaning, if I enter a search term (such as a zip code 90210), a list of registered domains with the search term would be returned to me. Suggestions? Thanks much.

March 14 2008 at 12:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

songdogtech

I use this Applescript to send an IP to dnsstuff.com from the clipboard which returns the whois info in a Safari window (or your default browser):

set front_app to (path to Â«constant afdregfpÂ» as Unicode text)
set name_ to name of (info for (path to Â«constant afdregfpÂ»))
tell application front_app
activate
tell application "System Events"
set this_text to (get the clipboard) as string
open location "http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=" & this_text

end tell
end tell

March 13 2008 at 12:24 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Charlie

All you have to do is open Terminal.app and type in "whois" and space followed by a URL.
..
You can do this for almost any website; ...

N.B.: This method will neither work for URLs nor websites. You can only use domain names.

~user>> whois http://www.tuaw.com

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

No match for "HTTP://WWW.TUAW.COM".

March 13 2008 at 12:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Chris

That is a good Terminal tip. It's faster than using the great Network Utility.

However, I still find GoDaddy.com to give the more info. Though,i would never use them for anything else.

March 13 2008 at 11:56 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

unruhschuh

Why bother to use the Terminal? Mac OS X comes with the "Network Utility" which has:

* Informations about Network interfaces
* Netstat
* AppleTalk
* ping
* Lookup
* Traceroute
* Whois
* Finger
* Port scan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Utility

March 13 2008 at 10:31 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to unruhschuh's comment

unruhschuh

oops I should have read the whole article ;)

March 13 2008 at 10:33 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

a ham sandwich

wow tuaw! the Chrysler building!

March 13 2008 at 10:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Pete Zich

You mean /Applications/Utilities/

March 13 2008 at 9:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Quagga

The problem is spammers got to the whois information a long time ago. I know my site has a domain privacy service operating on it and many other people's as well.

I'm somewhat annoyed I have to disable a section of the privacy as I'm going to requesting a registrar change pretty soon.

March 13 2008 at 9:30 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply