Editing Whois

= Whois =

'''Whois''' is a passive reconnaissance tool used to gather public registration data about domain names, IP addresses, and ASNs.  
It queries public WHOIS databases to retrieve ownership, administrative contacts, creation/expiry dates, and registrar details — all without touching the target server directly.

Whois is essential in early recon phases for identifying ownership chains, domain infrastructure, and legal responsibility.

== <span id="options"></span>Common Options ==

=== Query Types ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Option !! Description
|-
| [[#ex-domain|<code>[DOMAIN]</code>]] || Lookup WHOIS data for a domain name
|-
| [[#ex-ip|<code>[IP]</code>]] || Retrieve WHOIS information for an IPv4/IPv6 address
|-
| [[#ex-asn|<code>[ASN]</code>]] || Query registration data for an Autonomous System Number
|}

=== Server & Control ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Option !! Description
|-
| [[#ex-customserver|<code>-h&nbsp;[HOST]</code>]] || Use a specific WHOIS server
|-
| <code>-p&nbsp;[PORT]</code> || Connect to a custom port on the WHOIS server
|-
| [[#ex-recursion|<code>--no-recursion</code>]] || Disable automatic follow‑up queries to referral servers
|}

=== Output Handling ===
{| class="wikitable"
! Option !! Description
|-
| [[#ex-nowarnings|<code>-B</code>]] || Suppress legal disclaimers
|-
| <code>--verbose</code> || Print additional debugging and parsing information
|-
| <code>--raw</code> || Output the unprocessed server response
|}

== Examples ==

=== <span id="ex-domain"></span>Basic Domain Lookup ===
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
whois example.com
</syntaxhighlight>

=== <span id="ex-ip"></span>IP Address Lookup ===
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
whois 1.1.1.1
</syntaxhighlight>

=== <span id="ex-asn"></span>Autonomous System Lookup ===
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
whois AS13335
</syntaxhighlight>

=== <span id="ex-customserver"></span>Query Specific WHOIS Server ===
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
whois -h whois.arin.net 8.8.8.8
</syntaxhighlight>

=== <span id="ex-nowarnings"></span>Suppress Legal Info ===
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
whois -B example.com
</syntaxhighlight>

=== <span id="ex-recursion"></span>Disable Referral Recursion ===
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
whois --no-recursion example.com
</syntaxhighlight>

== See Also ==
* [[dig]]
* [[nslookup]]
* [[theHarvester]]
* [[recon-ng]]
* [[Nmap]]