  WhoIs Help

WhoIs allows you to communicate with a WhoIs server which provides directory services to Internet users. If a hostname is specified without a username, WhoIs generates the file for the given WhoIs server.  This can be very large and may take a long time to download.

The menu options in WhoIs include:

StartWhoIs

Click this option to display the WhoIs dialog.

AbortWhoIs

Click this option when you are doing a WhoIs query and want to cancel it.  This option only displays when you are connecting to a WhoIs server.

Edit

Click here to get more information about the Edit options.

Help

Click this option to display on-line Help.

Exit

Click this option to exit WhoIs.


  WhoIs Dialog

WhoIs Server

Enter the hostname for a known WhoIs server.  This field will be disabled if Use Default WhoIs Server is checked (see below).

Username

Enter the name to be searched for in the WhoIs directory.  If ? is entered, the WhoIs server will return a detailed list of possible commands which may be used in place of the username in this field.  To obtain more detailed information on one particular user from a list of many, enter !handle in the Username field, where handle is the handle of the user.

To enter a individual name, first enter the last name, then a comma, then the first name.  The WhoIs server returns all matching names:  For example, entering Doe, John could return:

Doe, John (JD123)               root@ACOMPANY.COM             (414)123-4567

Doe, John (JD456)               vcli@BCOMPANY.COM               (414)456-7891

The value in parentheses (JD123) is called a handle.  From this handle, you can search for an individual from a group by entering HA followed by the handle.  For example, entering  HA JD123 for the username could return address information.

To enter a domain name, enter the name with identifiers separated by periods.  For example, entering frontiertech.com returns information about Frontier Technologies Corporation.

Use Default WhoIs Server

When this box is checked, a WhoIs server need not be entered in the WhoIs Server field.  The WhoIs information request will be routed to the default WhoIs server (rs.internic.net) which will be displayed in gray text in the WhoIs Server field.  To specify a WhoIs server other than the default, simply remove the check from this field and enter the WhoIs server hostname in the WhoIs Server field.


  Edit Menu

Copy

Copies selected text to the clipboard.

Select Entire Screen

Selects all text in the active screen (i.e., the 24 lines visible when the application is maximized).

Select Entire Buffer

Selects all text in the active screen and scrollback buffer.

Clear Screen

Clears all text in the active screen (i.e., the 24 lines visible when the application is maximized).

Clear Buffer

Clears all text in the active screen and scrollback buffer.