### Node WHOIS CLI Usage Examples

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

When installed globally, the `whois` binary exposes library options as flags for various lookups and configurations. Examples include simple domain/IP lookups, specifying servers, following redirects, verbose output, proxy usage, local interface binding, and setting timeouts.

```bash
# Simple domain lookup
whois google.com
```

```bash
# IP address lookup
whois 8.8.8.8
```

```bash
# Use a specific WHOIS server
whois -s whois.tucows.com tucows.com
```

```bash
# Follow up to 3 redirects
whois -f 3 example.com
```

```bash
# Show responses from every server in the redirect chain (verbose)
whois -v google.com
```

```bash
# Route through a SOCKS5 proxy
whois -p 127.0.0.1:1080 google.com
```

```bash
# Bind outgoing connection to a specific local interface
whois -b 192.168.1.50 example.com
```

```bash
# Set a 10-second socket timeout
whois -t 10000 example.com
```

```bash
# Show help
whois -h
```

--------------------------------

### Install Node WHOIS Globally

Source: https://github.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/blob/master/README.md

Install the Node WHOIS client globally for command-line usage. This allows you to run `whois` commands directly from your terminal.

```bash
npm install -g whois
```

--------------------------------

### Install Node WHOIS Locally

Source: https://github.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/blob/master/README.md

Install the Node WHOIS package locally for use within your Node.js projects. This is the standard method for project dependencies.

```bash
npm install whois
```

--------------------------------

### Perform WHOIS Lookup in Node.js

Source: https://github.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/blob/master/README.md

Basic usage of the `whois.lookup` function in Node.js. Requires the `whois` module to be installed and required.

```javascript
var whois = require('whois')
whois.lookup('google.com', function(err, data) {
	console.log(data)
})
```

--------------------------------

### Verbose WHOIS Lookup

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Enable verbose mode to get raw WHOIS text from all servers in the redirect chain. Each response includes the server hostname and its raw data.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

whois.lookup('google.com', { verbose: true }, (err, results) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);

  results.forEach(({ server, data }) => {
    console.log(`\n=== Response from: ${server} ===`);
    console.log(data);
  });

});
```

--------------------------------

### Node WHOIS Command-Line Usage

Source: https://github.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/blob/master/README.md

Basic command-line syntax for the Node WHOIS client. Use `whois [options] address` to perform lookups.

```bash
whois [options] address
```

--------------------------------

### Configure WHOIS Lookup Options

Source: https://github.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/blob/master/README.md

An object can be passed to `whois.lookup` to customize its behavior. Options include specifying a WHOIS server, following redirects, setting timeouts, and enabling verbose output.

```javascript
{
	"server":  "",   // this can be a string ("host:port") or an object with host and port as its keys; leaving it empty makes lookup rely on servers.json
	"follow":  2,    // number of times to follow redirects
	"timeout": 0,    // socket timeout, excluding this doesn't override any default timeout value
	"verbose": false // setting this to true returns an array of responses from all servers
	"bind": null     // bind the socket to a local IP address
	"proxy": {       // (optional) SOCKS Proxy
		"host": "",
		"port": 0,
		"type": 5    // or 4
	}
}
```

--------------------------------

### `lookup` with `follow` option — Control WHOIS redirect depth

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Controls how many times the library will automatically chase referral servers (e.g., from a TLD registry to a registrar). The `follow` option defaults to 2.

```APIDOC
## lookup with `follow` option

### Description
WHOIS responses from top-level registry servers often contain a `Registrar WHOIS Server` field pointing to a more detailed registrar-level server. The `follow` option sets how many times the library will automatically chase these referrals. The default is 2.

### Parameters
#### Request Body
- **follow** (number) - Optional - The maximum number of referral hops to follow (default: 2).
  - `0`: Only query the initial TLD registry server, no redirects.
  - `1`: Follow one referral (e.g., registry → registrar).
  - `2` (default): Follow up to two hops for the most detailed response.

### Request Example
```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// follow: 0 — only query the TLD registry server, no redirects
whois.lookup('google.com', { follow: 0 }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  // data comes from whois.verisign-grs.com only
  console.log(data);
});

// follow: 1 — follow one referral (registry → registrar)
whois.lookup('google.com', { follow: 1 }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  // data comes from whois.markmonitor.com (Google's registrar)
  console.log(data);
});

// Default follow: 2 — follows up to two hops automatically
whois.lookup('example.com', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data); // most detailed response available
});
```
```

--------------------------------

### `lookup(addr, [options], callback)` — Query WHOIS data for a domain or IP

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Performs a WHOIS lookup for the given address. Automatically resolves the correct upstream server from `servers.json` unless an explicit `server` option is provided. The callback receives `(err, data)`, where `data` is a plain string or an array of `{ server, data }` objects if `verbose: true`.

```APIDOC
## lookup(addr, [options], callback)

### Description
Performs a WHOIS lookup for the given address (domain name or IP). Automatically resolves the correct upstream server from `servers.json` unless an explicit `server` option is provided. The callback receives `(err, data)`, where `data` is a plain string or an array of `{ server, data }` objects if `verbose: true`.

### Parameters
#### Path Parameters
- **addr** (string) - Required - The domain name or IP address to look up.
- **options** (object) - Optional - Configuration options for the lookup.
  - **server** (string | object) - Optional - Specifies a custom WHOIS server. Can be a "host:port" string or an object with `host` and `port` keys.
  - **follow** (number) - Optional - Controls the depth of redirect following (default: 2).
  - **verbose** (boolean) - Optional - If true, returns an array of `{ server, data }` objects.
- **callback** (function) - Required - A Node.js-style callback function `(err, data)`.

### Request Example
```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// Basic domain lookup
whois.lookup('google.com', (err, data) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error('Lookup failed:', err.message);
    return;
  }
  console.log(data);
});

// Basic IPv4 lookup
whois.lookup('8.8.8.8', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});

// IPv6 lookup
whois.lookup('2001:4860:4860::8888', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```

### Response
#### Success Response (200)
- **data** (string | array) - The WHOIS data. A plain string in default mode, or an array of `{ server, data }` objects when `verbose: true`.

#### Response Example
```json
{
  "example": "raw WHOIS text containing registrar, creation date, expiry date, name servers, etc."
}
```
```

--------------------------------

### Control WHOIS Redirect Depth with Node WHOIS

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Control how many levels of WHOIS server referrals the library follows using the 'follow' option. The default is 2, allowing for registry to registrar lookups. Setting 'follow: 0' queries only the initial TLD registry server.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// follow: 0  — only query the TLD registry server, no redirects
whois.lookup('google.com', { follow: 0 }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  // data comes from whois.verisign-grs.com only
  console.log(data);
});

// follow: 1  — follow one referral (registry → registrar)
whois.lookup('google.com', { follow: 1 }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  // data comes from whois.markmonitor.com (Google's registrar)
  console.log(data);
});

// Default follow: 2 — follows up to two hops automatically
whois.lookup('example.com', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data); // most detailed response available
});
```

--------------------------------

### `lookup` with `server` option — Specify a custom WHOIS server

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Overrides automatic server resolution by allowing you to specify a custom WHOIS server. The server can be provided as a string (e.g., 'whois.tucows.com' or 'whois.tucows.com:43') or as an object with `host` and `port` keys.

```APIDOC
## lookup with `server` option

### Description
Overrides automatic server resolution. The server can be provided as a "host:port" string or as an object with `host` and `port` keys. Useful when querying a specific registrar's WHOIS server directly.

### Parameters
#### Request Body
- **server** (string | object) - Required - The custom WHOIS server to use. Can be a string like 'host' or 'host:port', or an object like `{ host: '...', port: 43 }`.

### Request Example
```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// String form: "host"
whois.lookup('tucows.com', { server: 'whois.tucows.com' }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});

// Object form with explicit port
whois.lookup('tucows.com', { server: { host: 'whois.tucows.com', port: 43 } }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});

// Override port via string
whois.lookup('example.com', { server: 'whois.verisign-grs.com:4343' }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```
```

--------------------------------

### Access Built-in WHOIS Server Registry

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Import and use the `SERVERS` export to access the built-in server registry for looking up WHOIS servers by TLD or for IP address lookups using the special `_` key. This allows for inspection or custom server resolution.

```javascript
import { SERVERS } from 'whois';

// Look up the WHOIS server for .com
console.log(SERVERS['com']);
// { host: 'whois.verisign-grs.com', query: 'DOMAIN $addr\r\n' }

// Look up the WHOIS server for .de
console.log(SERVERS['de']);
// { host: 'whois.denic.de', query: '-T dn $addr\r\n', punycode: false }

// IP address lookups use the special "_" key
console.log(SERVERS['_']['ip']);
// { host: 'whois.arin.net', query: 'n + $addr\r\n' }

// Check all supported TLDs
console.log(Object.keys(SERVERS).filter(k => !k.startsWith('_')).length);
// 400+
```

--------------------------------

### Basic Domain and IP Lookup with Node WHOIS

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Perform a basic WHOIS lookup for a domain name or IP address. The library automatically resolves the correct WHOIS server. The callback receives an error or the raw WHOIS text data.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// Basic domain lookup
whois.lookup('google.com', (err, data) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error('Lookup failed:', err.message);
    return;
  }
  console.log(data);
  // Output: raw WHOIS text containing registrar, creation date,
  // expiry date, name servers, etc.
});

// Basic IPv4 lookup
whois.lookup('8.8.8.8', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
  // Output: ARIN WHOIS data for Google's DNS server block
});

// IPv6 lookup
whois.lookup('2001:4860:4860::8888', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```

--------------------------------

### WHOIS Lookup with Bind Option

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Force the outgoing TCP connection to use a specific local IP address. This is useful for multi-homed hosts to specify the network interface.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

whois.lookup('example.com', { bind: '192.168.1.50' }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```

--------------------------------

### WHOIS Lookup with Proxy Option

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Route WHOIS queries through a SOCKS4 or SOCKS5 proxy. The proxy can be specified as a 'host:port' string or an object with host, port, and optional type.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// SOCKS5 proxy via string (type defaults to 5)
whois.lookup('google.com', { proxy: '127.0.0.1:1080' }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```

```javascript
// SOCKS5 proxy via object
whois.lookup('google.com', {
  proxy: {
    ipaddress: '127.0.0.1',
    port: 1080,
    type: 5,
  }
}, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```

```javascript
// SOCKS4 proxy
whois.lookup('example.com', {
  proxy: {
    ipaddress: '10.0.0.1',
    port: 1080,
    type: 4,
  }
}, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```

--------------------------------

### WHOIS Lookup with Timeout Option

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Set a custom socket timeout in milliseconds. If a server doesn't respond within this window, an error is returned. Useful for slow or international WHOIS servers.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// Tight timeout — will likely fail for slow servers
whois.lookup('google.com', { timeout: 1 }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err.message); // "lookup: timeout"
    return;
  }
  console.log(data);
});
```

```javascript
// Generous timeout for slow/international WHOIS servers
whois.lookup('example.co.jp', { timeout: 15000 }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```

--------------------------------

### Specify Custom WHOIS Server with Node WHOIS

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Override the automatic WHOIS server resolution by providing a custom server. The server can be specified as a 'host:port' string or an object with 'host' and 'port' properties. This is useful for directly querying a specific registrar's server.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// String form: "host" or "host:port"
whois.lookup('tucows.com', { server: 'whois.tucows.com' }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});

// Object form with explicit port
whois.lookup('tucows.com', { server: { host: 'whois.tucows.com', port: 43 } }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});

// Override port via string
whois.lookup('example.com', { server: 'whois.verisign-grs.com:4343' }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data);
});
```

--------------------------------

### IDN / Internationalized Domain Name Support

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Handles domain names with non-ASCII characters by converting them to Punycode. Some TLDs may handle Unicode natively if configured.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// German IDN domain — converted to xn--kche-0ra.de internally
whois.lookup('küche.de', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  // Response contains the original Unicode form because whois.denic.de
  // uses "punycode": false in servers.json
  console.log(data.toLowerCase().includes('domain: küche.de')); // true
});
```

```javascript
// Norwegian IDN domain
whois.lookup('åre.no', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data.toLowerCase().includes('åre.no')); // true
});
```

--------------------------------

### WHOIS Lookup with Encoding Option

Source: https://context7.com/furqansoftware/node-whois/llms.txt

Set the character encoding for reading WHOIS response data. Useful for non-UTF-8 responses, such as latin-1. Defaults to UTF-8.

```javascript
import whois from 'whois';

// Use binary encoding for servers that return latin-1 / ISO-8859-1
whois.lookup('148.241.109.161', { encoding: 'binary' }, (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(data); // Contains "MX-ITYE8-LACNIC" in raw bytes
});
```

```javascript
// Default (no encoding set) — returns a UTF-8 string
whois.lookup('google.com', (err, data) => {
  if (err) return console.error(err);
  console.log(typeof data); // "string"
});
```

=== COMPLETE CONTENT === This response contains all available snippets from this library. No additional content exists. Do not make further requests.