Instructions

Enter an IP addresses, autonomous system number (ASN), organization or customer name

To obtain a more specific response, you may conduct a search by using certain flags. Many of these flags can be combined to tailor the desired output. Flags must be separated from each other and from the search term by a space. Your results will vary depending on the refinements you apply in your search. Listed below are the flags currently available; you may only use one flag from each flag-type in a query, i.e. one record type, one attribute, etc.

Query-by-record-type

To limit your query to a specific record type, include one of the following flags:

n	Network address space
a	Autonomous systems
p	Points-of-contact
o	Organizations
c	End-user customers

Query-by-attributes

To limit your query to a specific record attribute, include one of the following flags:

@domain name	Searches for matches by domain-portion of an email address
! handle	Searches for matches by handle or id
. name	Searches for matches by name

Searches that retrieve a single record will display the full record. Searches that retrieve more than one record will be displayed in list output.

Display flags

To modify the way that the query results display, include one of the following flags:

+	FULL output shows detailed display for EACH match
-	LIST output shows summary only, even if single match returned

The + flag cannot be used with the sub-query featured described below.

Record hierarchy

Records in the ARIN WHOIS database have hierarchical relationship with other records. To display those related records, use the following flags:

<	Displays the record related up the hierarchy. For a network, display the supernet, or parent network in detailed format
>	Displays the record related down the hierarchy. For a network, display the subdelegations, or subnets, below the network, in list format. For an organization or customer, display the resources registered to that organization or customer, in list format

Wild card queries

WHOIS supports wild card queries. This feature is only supported as a trailing character option. To take advantage of this append the query with an asterisk [*]. This can also be used in combination with any flags defined above.

Other helpful hints

To guarantee matching only a single record, look it up by its handle using a handle-only search. In the record summary line, the handle is shown in parenthesis after the name.

When using a handle to conduct a search for POC information, be sure to add the -ARIN extension.

Queries that return more than 256 results will stop displaying data after the 256th result. You may want to narrow your search criteria or add flags to your query to limit the results.

To search on an individual's name, you may enter the last name, or to further restrict results, use the last name and first name, separated by a comma. For example: Smith, John.