dig (Domain Information Groper) is a powerful command-line DNS lookup tool used to query DNS name servers and retrieve resource records.
It is commonly used in reconnaissance to resolve hostnames, enumerate DNS records, test custom name servers, and analyze DNS responses in detail.
| Option |
Description
|
A |
Query IPv4 address record
|
AAAA |
Query IPv6 address record
|
MX |
Query mail exchange record
|
NS |
Query authoritative name servers
|
CNAME |
Query canonical name record (alias)
|
SOA |
Query start of authority record
|
TXT |
Query text records (commonly used for SPF, DKIM, etc.)
|
| Option |
Description
|
@[SERVER] |
Specify DNS server to query
|
+short |
Return simplified output (good for scripts)
|
+noall |
Suppress all sections of the output
|
+answer |
Show only the answer section
|
+timeout=[SEC] |
Set query timeout in seconds
|
+tries=[NUM] |
Set number of query attempts
|
+tcp |
Use TCP instead of UDP for the query
|
+nocomments |
Omit comments from output
|
# Query IPv4 address record
dig A example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN A 93.184.216.34
↑ Options
# Query IPv6 address record
dig AAAA example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN AAAA 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
↑ Options
# Query mail exchange records
dig MX example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN MX 10 mail.example.com.
↑ Options
# Query authoritative name servers
dig NS example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN NS b.iana-servers.net.
example.com. 300 IN NS a.iana-servers.net.
↑ Options
# Query canonical name (alias) record
dig CNAME www.example.com
# Output:
www.example.com. 300 IN CNAME example.com.
↑ Options
# Query Start of Authority record
dig SOA example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN SOA sns.dns.icann.org. noc.dns.icann.org. 2017042745 7200 3600 1209600 3600
↑ Options
# Query text records
dig TXT example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN TXT "v=spf1 -all"
↑ Options
# Query A record using Google's DNS server
dig @8.8.8.8 A example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN A 93.184.216.34
↑ Options
# Return only the IP address
dig +short A example.com
# Output:
93.184.216.34
↑ Options
# Suppress all sections except the answer
dig +noall +answer A example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN A 93.184.216.34
↑ Options
# Set DNS query timeout to 2 seconds
dig +timeout=2 A example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN A 93.184.216.34
↑ Options
# Limit query retries to 1 attempt
dig +tries=1 A example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN A 93.184.216.34
↑ Options
# Force DNS query over TCP
dig +tcp A example.com
# Output:
example.com. 300 IN A 93.184.216.34
↑ Options