e9453d609db9aed9efd2bb4fd287ff3ad11da0b2Damien Neil<
div class="cmdsynopsis"><
p><
code class="command">dig</
code> [@server] [<
code class="option">-b <
em class="replaceable"><
code>address</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-c <
em class="replaceable"><
code>class</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-f <
em class="replaceable"><
code>filename</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-k <
em class="replaceable"><
code>filename</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-m</
code>] [<
code class="option">-p <
em class="replaceable"><
code>port#</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-q <
em class="replaceable"><
code>name</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-t <
em class="replaceable"><
code>type</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-v</
code>] [<
code class="option">-x <
em class="replaceable"><
code>addr</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-y <
em class="replaceable"><
code>[<
span class="optional">hmac:</
span>]name:key</
code></
em></
code>] [<
code class="option">-4</
code>] [<
code class="option">-6</
code>] [name] [type] [class] [queryopt...]</
p></
div>
local host. The reply from the name server that
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="constant">name</
code></
span></
dt>
is the name of the resource record that is to be looked up.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="constant">type</
code></
span></
dt>
indicates what type of query is required —
<
em class="parameter"><
code>type</
code></
em> can be any valid query
<
em class="parameter"><
code>type</
code></
em> argument is supplied,
<
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> will perform a lookup for an
<
div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<
a name="id2615509"></
a><
h2>OPTIONS</
h2>
The <
code class="option">-b</
code> option sets the source IP address of the query
to <
em class="parameter"><
code>address</
code></
em>. This must be a valid
one of the host's network interfaces or "0.0.0.0" or "::". An optional
may be specified by appending "#<port>"
The default query class (IN for internet) is overridden by the
<
code class="option">-c</
code> option. <
em class="parameter"><
code>class</
code></
em> is
class, such as HS for Hesiod records or CH for Chaosnet records.
The <
code class="option">-f</
code> option makes <
span><
strong class="command">dig </
strong></
span>
in batch mode by reading a list of lookup requests to process from the
file <
em class="parameter"><
code>filename</
code></
em>. The file contains a
queries, one per line. Each entry in the file should be organized in
the same way they would be presented as queries to
<
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> using the command-line interface.
The <
code class="option">-m</
code> option enables memory usage debugging.
If a non-standard port number is to be queried, the
<
code class="option">-p</
code> option is used. <
em class="parameter"><
code>port#</
code></
em> is
the port number that <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> will send its
instead of the standard DNS port number 53. This option would be used
to test a name server that has been configured to listen for queries
on a non-standard port number.
The <
code class="option">-4</
code> option forces <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span>
use IPv4 query transport. The <
code class="option">-6</
code> option forces
<
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> to only use IPv6 query transport.
The <
code class="option">-t</
code> option sets the query type to
<
em class="parameter"><
code>type</
code></
em>. It can be any valid query type
supported in BIND 9. The default query type is "A", unless the
<
code class="option">-x</
code> option is supplied to indicate a reverse lookup.
A zone transfer can be requested by specifying a type of AXFR. When
an incremental zone transfer (IXFR) is required,
<
em class="parameter"><
code>type</
code></
em> is set to <
code class="literal">ixfr=N</
code>.
The incremental zone transfer will contain the changes made to the zone
since the serial number in the zone's SOA record was
<
em class="parameter"><
code>N</
code></
em>.
The <
code class="option">-q</
code> option sets the query name to
<
em class="parameter"><
code>name</
code></
em>. This is useful to distinguish the
<
em class="parameter"><
code>name</
code></
em> from other arguments.
The <
code class="option">-v</
code> causes <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> to
print the version number and exit.
Reverse lookups — mapping addresses to names — are simplified by the
<
code class="option">-x</
code> option. <
em class="parameter"><
code>addr</
code></
em> is
address in dotted-decimal notation, or a colon-delimited IPv6 address.
When this option is used, there is no need to provide the
<
em class="parameter"><
code>name</
code></
em>, <
em class="parameter"><
code>class</
code></
em> and
<
em class="parameter"><
code>type</
code></
em> arguments. <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span>
automatically performs a lookup for a name like
class to PTR and IN respectively. By default, IPv6 addresses are
looked up using nibble format under the
IP6.ARPA domain.
To use the older RFC1886 method using the
IP6.INT domain
specify the <
code class="option">-i</
code> option. Bit string labels (RFC2874)
are now experimental and are not attempted.
To sign the DNS queries sent by <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> and
responses using transaction signatures (TSIG), specify a TSIG key file
using the <
code class="option">-k</
code> option. You can also specify the TSIG
key itself on the command line using the <
code class="option">-y</
code> option;
<
em class="parameter"><
code>hmac</
code></
em> is the type of the TSIG, default HMAC-MD5,
<
em class="parameter"><
code>name</
code></
em> is the name of the TSIG key and
<
em class="parameter"><
code>key</
code></
em> is the actual key. The key is a
encoded string, typically generated by
<
span class="citerefentry"><
span class="refentrytitle">dnssec-keygen</
span>(8)</
span>.
Caution should be taken when using the <
code class="option">-y</
code> option on
multi-user systems as the key can be visible in the output from
<
span class="citerefentry"><
span class="refentrytitle">ps</
span>(1)</
span>
or in the shell's history file. When
using TSIG authentication with <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span>, the name
server that is queried needs to know the key and algorithm that is
being used. In BIND, this is done by providing appropriate
<
span><
strong class="command">key</
strong></
span> and <
span><
strong class="command">server</
strong></
span> statements in
<
div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<
a name="id2667064"></
a><
h2>QUERY OPTIONS</
h2>
<
p><
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span>
provides a number of query options which affect
the way in which lookups are made and the results displayed. Some of
these set or reset flag bits in the query header, some determine which
sections of the answer get printed, and others determine the timeout
Each query option is identified by a keyword preceded by a plus sign
(<
code class="literal">+</
code>). Some keywords set or reset an
option. These may be preceded
by the string <
code class="literal">no</
code> to negate the meaning of
keywords assign values to options like the timeout interval. They
have the form <
code class="option">+keyword=value</
code>.
<
div class="variablelist"><
dl>
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]aaflag</
code></
span></
dt>
A synonym for <
em class="parameter"><
code>+[no]aaonly</
code></
em>.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]aaonly</
code></
span></
dt>
Sets the "aa" flag in the query.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]additional</
code></
span></
dt>
Display [do not display] the additional section of a
reply. The default is to display it.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]adflag</
code></
span></
dt>
Set [do not set] the AD (authentic data) bit in the
query. This requests the server to return whether
all of the answer and authority sections have all
been validated as secure according to the security
policy of the server. AD=1 indicates that all records
have been validated as secure and the answer is not
from a OPT-OUT range. AD=0 indicate that some part
of the answer was insecure or not validated. This
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]all</
code></
span></
dt>
Set or clear all display flags.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]answer</
code></
span></
dt>
Display [do not display] the answer section of a
reply. The default is to display it.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]authority</
code></
span></
dt>
Display [do not display] the authority section of a
reply. The default is to display it.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]besteffort</
code></
span></
dt>
Attempt to display the contents of messages which are
malformed. The default is to not display malformed
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+bufsize=B</
code></
span></
dt>
Set the UDP message buffer size advertised using EDNS0
to <
em class="parameter"><
code>B</
code></
em> bytes. The maximum and
minimum sizes of this buffer are 65535 and 0 respectively.
Values outside this range are rounded up or down
appropriately. Values other than zero will cause a
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]cdflag</
code></
span></
dt>
Set [do not set] the CD (checking disabled) bit in
the query. This requests the server to not perform
DNSSEC validation of responses.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]cl</
code></
span></
dt>
Display [do not display] the CLASS when printing the
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]cmd</
code></
span></
dt>
Toggles the printing of the initial comment in the
output identifying the version of <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span>
and the query options that have been applied. This
comment is printed by default.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]comments</
code></
span></
dt>
Toggle the display of comment lines in the output.
The default is to print comments.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]crypto</
code></
span></
dt>
Toggle the display of cryptographic fields in DNSSEC
records. The contents of these field are unnecessary
to debug most DNSSEC validation failures and removing
them makes it easier to see the common failures. The
default is to display the fields. When omitted they
are replaced by the string "[omitted]" or in the
DNSKEY case the key id is displayed as the replacement,
e.g. "[ key id = value ]".
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]defname</
code></
span></
dt>
Deprecated, treated as a synonym for
<
em class="parameter"><
code>+[no]search</
code></
em>
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]dnssec</
code></
span></
dt>
Requests DNSSEC records be sent by setting the DNSSEC
OK bit (DO) in the OPT record in the additional section
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+domain=somename</
code></
span></
dt>
Set the search list to contain the single domain
<
em class="parameter"><
code>somename</
code></
em>, as if specified in
a <
span><
strong class="command">domain</
strong></
span> directive in
search list processing as if the
<
em class="parameter"><
code>+search</
code></
em> option were given.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+dscp=value</
code></
span></
dt>
Set the DSCP code point to be used when sending the
query. Valid DSCP code points are in the range
[0..63]. By default no code point is explicitly set.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]edns[=#]</
code></
span></
dt>
Specify the EDNS version to query with. Valid values
are 0 to 255. Setting the EDNS version will cause
a EDNS query to be sent. <
code class="option">+noedns</
code>
clears the remembered EDNS version. EDNS is set to
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]ednsflags[=#]</
code></
span></
dt>
Set the must-be-zero EDNS flags bits (Z bits) to the
specified value. Decimal, hex and octal encodings are
accepted. Setting a named flag (
e.g. DO) will silently be
ignored. By default, no Z bits are set.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]ednsnegotiation</
code></
span></
dt>
Enable / disable EDNS version negotiation. By default
EDNS version negotiation is enabled.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]ednsopt[=code[:value]]</
code></
span></
dt>
Specify EDNS option with code point <
code class="option">code</
code>
and optionally payload of <
code class="option">value</
code> as a
hexadecimal string. <
code class="option">+noednsopt</
code>
clears the EDNS options to be sent.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]expire</
code></
span></
dt>
Send an EDNS Expire option.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]fail</
code></
span></
dt>
Do not try the next server if you receive a SERVFAIL.
The default is to not try the next server which is
the reverse of normal stub resolver behavior.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]header-only</
code></
span></
dt>
Send a query with a DNS header without a question section.
The default is to add a question section. The query type
and query name are ignored when this is set.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]identify</
code></
span></
dt>
Show [or do not show] the IP address and port number
that supplied the answer when the
<
em class="parameter"><
code>+short</
code></
em> option is enabled. If
short form answers are requested, the default is not
to show the source address and port number of the
server that provided the answer.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]ignore</
code></
span></
dt>
Ignore truncation in UDP responses instead of retrying
with TCP. By default, TCP retries are performed.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]keepopen</
code></
span></
dt>
Keep the TCP socket open between queries and reuse
it rather than creating a new TCP socket for each
lookup. The default is <
code class="option">+nokeepopen</
code>.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]multiline</
code></
span></
dt>
Print records like the SOA records in a verbose
multi-line format with human-readable comments. The
default is to print each record on a single line, to
facilitate machine parsing of the <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span>
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+ndots=D</
code></
span></
dt>
Set the number of dots that have to appear in
<
em class="parameter"><
code>name</
code></
em> to <
em class="parameter"><
code>D</
code></
em>
for it to be considered absolute. The default value
is that defined using the ndots statement in
ndots statement is present. Names with fewer dots
are interpreted as relative names and will be searched
for in the domains listed in the <
code class="option">search</
code>
or <
code class="option">domain</
code> directive in
<
code class="option">+search</
code> is set.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]nsid</
code></
span></
dt>
Include an EDNS name server ID request when sending
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]nssearch</
code></
span></
dt>
When this option is set, <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span>
attempts to find the authoritative name servers for
the zone containing the name being looked up and
display the SOA record that each name server has for
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]onesoa</
code></
span></
dt>
Print only one (starting) SOA record when performing
an AXFR. The default is to print both the starting
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]qr</
code></
span></
dt>
Print [do not print] the query as it is sent. By
default, the query is not printed.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]question</
code></
span></
dt>
Print [do not print] the question section of a query
when an answer is returned. The default is to print
the question section as a comment.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]recurse</
code></
span></
dt>
Toggle the setting of the RD (recursion desired) bit
in the query. This bit is set by default, which means
<
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> normally sends recursive
queries. Recursion is automatically disabled when
the <
em class="parameter"><
code>+nssearch</
code></
em> or
<
em class="parameter"><
code>+trace</
code></
em> query options are used.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+retry=T</
code></
span></
dt>
Sets the number of times to retry UDP queries to
server to <
em class="parameter"><
code>T</
code></
em> instead of the
default, 2. Unlike <
em class="parameter"><
code>+tries</
code></
em>,
this does not include the initial query.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]rrcomments</
code></
span></
dt>
Toggle the display of per-record comments in the
output (for example, human-readable key information
about DNSKEY records). The default is not to print
record comments unless multiline mode is active.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]search</
code></
span></
dt>
Use [do not use] the search list defined by the
searchlist or domain directive in
<
code class="filename">
resolv.conf</
code> (if any). The search
list is not used by default.
'ndots' from <
code class="filename">
resolv.conf</
code> (default 1)
which may be overridden by <
em class="parameter"><
code>+ndots</
code></
em>
determines if the name will be treated as relative
or not and hence whether a search is eventually
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]short</
code></
span></
dt>
Provide a terse answer. The default is to print the
answer in a verbose form.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]showsearch</
code></
span></
dt>
Perform [do not perform] a search showing intermediate
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]sigchase</
code></
span></
dt>
Chase DNSSEC signature chains. Requires dig be
compiled with -DDIG_SIGCHASE.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]sit[<
span class="optional">=####</
span>]</
code></
span></
dt>
Send a Source Identity Token EDNS option, with optional
value. Replaying a SIT from a previous response will
allow the server to identify a previous client. The
default is <
code class="option">+nosit</
code>. Currently using
experimental value 65001 for the option code.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+split=W</
code></
span></
dt>
Split long hex- or base64-formatted fields in resource
records into chunks of <
em class="parameter"><
code>W</
code></
em>
characters (where <
em class="parameter"><
code>W</
code></
em> is rounded
up to the nearest multiple of 4).
<
em class="parameter"><
code>+nosplit</
code></
em> or
<
em class="parameter"><
code>+split=0</
code></
em> causes fields not to
be split at all. The default is 56 characters, or
44 characters when multiline mode is active.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]stats</
code></
span></
dt>
This query option toggles the printing of statistics:
when the query was made, the size of the reply and
so on. The default behavior is to print the query
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]subnet=
addr/
prefix</
code></
span></
dt>
Send an EDNS Client Subnet option with the specified
IP address or network prefix.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]tcp</
code></
span></
dt>
Use [do not use] TCP when querying name servers. The
default behavior is to use UDP unless an
<
code class="literal">ixfr=N</
code> query is requested, in which
case the default is TCP. AXFR queries always use
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+time=T</
code></
span></
dt>
Sets the timeout for a query to
<
em class="parameter"><
code>T</
code></
em> seconds. The default
An attempt to set <
em class="parameter"><
code>T</
code></
em> to less
in a query timeout of 1 second being applied.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]topdown</
code></
span></
dt>
When chasing DNSSEC signature chains perform a top-down
validation. Requires dig be compiled with -DDIG_SIGCHASE.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]trace</
code></
span></
dt>
Toggle tracing of the delegation path from the root
name servers for the name being looked up. Tracing
is disabled by default. When tracing is enabled,
<
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> makes iterative queries to
resolve the name being looked up. It will follow
referrals from the root servers, showing the answer
from each server that was used to resolve the lookup.
<
span><
strong class="command">+dnssec</
strong></
span> is also set when +trace
is set to better emulate the default queries from a
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+tries=T</
code></
span></
dt>
Sets the number of times to try UDP queries to server
to <
em class="parameter"><
code>T</
code></
em> instead of the default,
3. If <
em class="parameter"><
code>T</
code></
em> is less than or equal
to zero, the number of tries is silently rounded up
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+trusted-key=####</
code></
span></
dt>
Specifies a file containing trusted keys to be used
with <
code class="option">+sigchase</
code>. Each DNSKEY record
If not specified, <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> will look
Requires dig be compiled with -DDIG_SIGCHASE.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]ttlid</
code></
span></
dt>
Display [do not display] the TTL when printing the
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]ttlunits</
code></
span></
dt>
Display [do not display] the TTL in friendly human-readable
time units of "s", "m", "h", "d", and "w", representing
seconds, minutes, hours, days and weeks. Implies +ttlid.
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]vc</
code></
span></
dt>
Use [do not use] TCP when querying name servers. This
alternate syntax to <
em class="parameter"><
code>+[no]tcp</
code></
em>
is provided for backwards compatibility. The "vc"
stands for "virtual circuit".
<
dt><
span class="term"><
code class="option">+[no]zflag</
code></
span></
dt>
Set [do not set] the last unassigned DNS header flag in a
DNS query. This flag is off by default.
<
div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<
a name="id2668352"></
a><
h2>MULTIPLE QUERIES</
h2>
The BIND 9 implementation of <
span><
strong class="command">dig </
strong></
span>
specifying multiple queries on the command line (in addition to
supporting the <
code class="option">-f</
code> batch file option). Each of those
queries can be supplied with its own set of flags, options and query
In this case, each <
em class="parameter"><
code>query</
code></
em> argument
individual query in the command-line syntax described above. Each
consists of any of the standard options and flags, the name to be
looked up, an optional query type and class and any query options that
should be applied to that query.
A global set of query options, which should be applied to all queries,
can also be supplied. These global query options must precede the
first tuple of name, class, type, options, flags, and query options
supplied on the command line. Any global query options (except
the <
code class="option">+[no]cmd</
code> option) can be
overridden by a query-specific set of query options. For example:
<
pre class="programlisting">
shows how <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> could be used from the
to make three lookups: an ANY query for <
code class="literal">
www.isc.org</
code>, a
reverse lookup of 127.0.0.1 and a query for the NS records of
<
code class="literal">
isc.org</
code>.
A global query option of <
em class="parameter"><
code>+qr</
code></
em> is
that <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> shows the initial query it made
lookup. The final query has a local query option of
<
em class="parameter"><
code>+noqr</
code></
em> which means that <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span>
will not print the initial query when it looks up the NS records for
<
code class="literal">
isc.org</
code>.
<
div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<
a name="id2668505"></
a><
h2>IDN SUPPORT</
h2>
If <
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> has been built with IDN (internationalized
domain name) support, it can accept and display non-ASCII domain names.
<
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> appropriately converts character encoding of
domain name before sending a request to DNS server or displaying a
If you'd like to turn off the IDN support for some reason, defines
the <
code class="envar">IDN_DISABLE</
code> environment variable.
The IDN support is disabled if the variable is set when
<
span><
strong class="command">dig</
strong></
span> runs.
<
div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<
a name="id2668534"></
a><
h2>FILES</
h2>
<
p><
code class="filename">${HOME}/.digrc</
code>
<
div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<
a name="id2668692"></
a><
h2>SEE ALSO</
h2>
<
p><
span class="citerefentry"><
span class="refentrytitle">host</
span>(1)</
span>,
<
span class="citerefentry"><
span class="refentrytitle">named</
span>(8)</
span>,
<
span class="citerefentry"><
span class="refentrytitle">dnssec-keygen</
span>(8)</
span>,
<
em class="citetitle">RFC1035</
em>.
<
div class="refsect1" lang="en">
<
a name="id2668729"></
a><
h2>BUGS</
h2>
There are probably too many query options.
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