---
name: "whois.conf"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "whois"
version: "5.6.6-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/whois.conf"
---

# whois.conf(5)

alternative WHOIS servers list for whois client

## NAME

whois.conf - alternative WHOIS servers list for whois client

## SYNOPSIS

**/etc/whois.conf**

## DESCRIPTION

This file contains a list of WHOIS servers which can augment or override the built-in list of the client.

It's a plain text file in ASCII encoding. Each line consists of two fields: a pattern to match WHOIS object identifier and a corresponding WHOIS server domain name.

Fields are separated by non-empty sequence of space or a tabular characters. A line starting with a hash character is a free comment and it's not considered.

The pattern is case-insensitive extended regular expression if whois client has been compiled with POSIX regular expressions support. Otherwise, simple case-insensitive suffix comparison against WHOIS object identifier is used.

Internationalized domain names (IDN) must be specified in ascii-compatible encoding (ACE) format.

## EXAMPLE

\\.nz$             nz.whois-servers.net\
 \# Hangul Korean TLD\
 \\.xn--3e0b707e$   whois.kr\
 \# Private ASNs\
 ^as645(1\[2-9\]\|2\[0-9\]\|3\[0-4\])$    whois.example.net

## FILES

/etc/whois.conf

## SEE ALSO

[*whois*(1)](/whois/1.md)

## AUTHOR

This manual page was written by Petr Písař \<*ppisar@redhat.com*\> and is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or higher.