Provided by: bind9-dnsutils_9.16.48-0ubuntu0.20.04.1_amd64 
NAME
dig - DNS lookup utility
SYNOPSIS
dig [@server] [-b address] [-c class] [-f filename] [-k filename] [-m] [-p port#] [-q
name] [-t type] [-v] [-x addr] [-y [hmac:]name:key] [ [-4] | [-6] ] [name] [type] [class]
[queryopt...]
dig [-h]
dig [global-queryopt...] [query...]
DESCRIPTION
dig is a flexible tool for interrogating DNS name servers. It performs DNS lookups and
displays the answers that are returned from the name server(s) that were queried. Most DNS
administrators use dig to troubleshoot DNS problems because of its flexibility, ease of
use, and clarity of output. Other lookup tools tend to have less functionality than dig.
Although dig is normally used with command-line arguments, it also has a batch mode of
operation for reading lookup requests from a file. A brief summary of its command-line
arguments and options is printed when the -h option is given. The BIND 9 implementation of
dig allows multiple lookups to be issued from the command line.
Unless it is told to query a specific name server, dig tries each of the servers listed in
/etc/resolv.conf. If no usable server addresses are found, dig sends the query to the
local host.
When no command-line arguments or options are given, dig performs an NS query for "." (the
root).
It is possible to set per-user defaults for dig via ${HOME}/.digrc. This file is read and
any options in it are applied before the command-line arguments. The -r option disables
this feature, for scripts that need predictable behavior.
The IN and CH class names overlap with the IN and CH top-level domain names. Either use
the -t and -c options to specify the type and class, use the -q to specify the domain
name, or use "IN." and "CH." when looking up these top-level domains.
SIMPLE USAGE
A typical invocation of dig looks like:
dig @server name type
where:
server is the name or IP address of the name server to query. This can be an IPv4 address
in dotted-decimal notation or an IPv6 address in colon-delimited notation. When the
supplied server argument is a hostname, dig resolves that name before querying that
name server.
If no server argument is provided, dig consults /etc/resolv.conf; if an address is
found there, it queries the name server at that address. If either of the -4 or -6
options are in use, then only addresses for the corresponding transport are tried.
If no usable addresses are found, dig sends the query to the local host. The reply
from the name server that responds is displayed.
name is the name of the resource record that is to be looked up.
type indicates what type of query is required - ANY, A, MX, SIG, etc. type can be any
valid query type. If no type argument is supplied, dig performs a lookup for an A
record.
OPTIONS
-4 This option indicates that only IPv4 should be used.
-6 This option indicates that only IPv6 should be used.
-b address[#port]
This option sets the source IP address of the query. The address must be a valid
address on one of the host's network interfaces, or "0.0.0.0" or "::". An optional
port may be specified by appending #port.
-c class
This option sets the query class. The default class is IN; other classes are HS for
Hesiod records or CH for Chaosnet records.
-f file
This option sets batch mode, in which dig reads a list of lookup requests to
process from the given file. Each line in the file should be organized in the same
way it would be presented as a query to dig using the command-line interface.
-k keyfile
This option tells named to sign queries using TSIG using a key read from the given
file. Key files can be generated using tsig-keygen. When using TSIG authentication
with dig, 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 key and server
statements in named.conf.
-m This option enables memory usage debugging.
-p port
This option sends the query to a non-standard port on the server, instead of the
default port 53. This option is used to test a name server that has been configured
to listen for queries on a non-standard port number.
-q name
This option specifies the domain name to query. This is useful to distinguish the
name from other arguments.
-r This option indicates that options from ${HOME}/.digrc should not be read. This is
useful for scripts that need predictable behavior.
-t type
This option indicates the resource record type to query, which can be any valid
query type. If it is a resource record type supported in BIND 9, it can be given by
the type mnemonic (such as NS or AAAA). The default query type is A, unless the -x
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,
set the type to ixfr=N. The incremental zone transfer contains all changes made to
the zone since the serial number in the zone's SOA record was N.
All resource record types can be expressed as TYPEnn, where nn is the number of the
type. If the resource record type is not supported in BIND 9, the result is
displayed as described in RFC 3597.
-u This option indicates that print query times should be provided in microseconds
instead of milliseconds.
-v This option prints the version number and exits.
-x addr
This option sets simplified reverse lookups, for mapping addresses to names. The
addr is an IPv4 address in dotted-decimal notation, or a colon-delimited IPv6
address. When the -x option is used, there is no need to provide the name, class,
and type arguments. dig automatically performs a lookup for a name like
94.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa and sets the query type and class to PTR and IN
respectively. IPv6 addresses are looked up using nibble format under the IP6.ARPA
domain.
-y [hmac:]keyname:secret
This option signs queries using TSIG with the given authentication key. keyname is
the name of the key, and secret is the base64-encoded shared secret. hmac is the
name of the key algorithm; valid choices are hmac-md5, hmac-sha1, hmac-sha224,
hmac-sha256, hmac-sha384, or hmac-sha512. If hmac is not specified, the default is
hmac-md5; if MD5 was disabled, the default is hmac-sha256.
NOTE:
Only the -k option should be used, rather than the -y option, because with -y the
shared secret is supplied as a command-line argument in clear text. This may be visible
in the output from ps1 or in a history file maintained by the user's shell.
QUERY OPTIONS
dig 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 and
retry strategies.
Each query option is identified by a keyword preceded by a plus sign (+). Some keywords
set or reset an option; these may be preceded by the string no to negate the meaning of
that keyword. Other keywords assign values to options, like the timeout interval. They
have the form +keyword=value. Keywords may be abbreviated, provided the abbreviation is
unambiguous; for example, +cd is equivalent to +cdflag. The query options are:
+[no]aaflag
This option is a synonym for +[no]aaonly.
+[no]aaonly
This option sets the aa flag in the query.
+[no]additional
This option displays [or does not display] the additional section of a reply. The
default is to display it.
+[no]adflag
This option sets [or does 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
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 indicates that some part of the answer was insecure or not
validated. This bit is set by default.
+[no]all
This option sets or clears all display flags.
+[no]answer
This option displays [or does not display] the answer section of a reply. The
default is to display it.
+[no]authority
This option displays [or does not display] the authority section of a reply. The
default is to display it.
+[no]badcookie
This option retries the lookup with a new server cookie if a BADCOOKIE response is
received.
+[no]besteffort
This option attempts to display the contents of messages which are malformed. The
default is to not display malformed answers.
+bufsize[=B]
This option sets the UDP message buffer size advertised using EDNS0 to B bytes.
The maximum and minimum sizes of this buffer are 65535 and 0, respectively.
+bufsize=0 disables EDNS (use +bufsize=0 +edns to send an EDNS message with an
advertised size of 0 bytes). +bufsize restores the default buffer size.
+[no]cdflag
This option sets [or does not set] the CD (checking disabled) bit in the query.
This requests the server to not perform DNSSEC validation of responses.
+[no]class
This option displays [or does not display] the CLASS when printing the record.
+[no]cmd
This option toggles the printing of the initial comment in the output, identifying
the version of dig and the query options that have been applied. This option always
has a global effect; it cannot be set globally and then overridden on a per-lookup
basis. The default is to print this comment.
+[no]comments
This option toggles the display of some comment lines in the output, with
information about the packet header and OPT pseudosection, and the names of the
response section. The default is to print these comments.
Other types of comments in the output are not affected by this option, but can be
controlled using other command-line switches. These include +[no]cmd,
+[no]question, +[no]stats, and +[no]rrcomments.
+[no]cookie=####
This option sends [or does not send] a COOKIE EDNS option, with an optional value.
Replaying a COOKIE from a previous response allows the server to identify a
previous client. The default is +cookie.
+cookie is also set when +trace is set to better emulate the default queries from a
nameserver.
+[no]crypto
This option toggles the display of cryptographic fields in DNSSEC records. The
contents of these fields are unnecessary for debugging 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 ].
+[no]defname
This option, which is deprecated, is treated as a synonym for +[no]search.
+[no]dnssec
This option requests that DNSSEC records be sent by setting the DNSSEC OK (DO) bit
in the OPT record in the additional section of the query.
+domain=somename
This option sets the search list to contain the single domain somename, as if
specified in a domain directive in /etc/resolv.conf, and enables search list
processing as if the +search option were given.
+dscp=value
This option sets 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.
+[no]edns[=#]
This option specifies the EDNS version to query with. Valid values are 0 to 255.
Setting the EDNS version causes an EDNS query to be sent. +noedns clears the
remembered EDNS version. EDNS is set to 0 by default.
+[no]ednsflags[=#]
This option sets 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) is
silently ignored. By default, no Z bits are set.
+[no]ednsnegotiation
This option enables/disables EDNS version negotiation. By default, EDNS version
negotiation is enabled.
+[no]ednsopt[=code[:value]]
This option specifies the EDNS option with code point code and an optional payload
of value as a hexadecimal string. code can be either an EDNS option name (for
example, NSID or ECS) or an arbitrary numeric value. +noednsopt clears the EDNS
options to be sent.
+[no]expire
This option sends an EDNS Expire option.
+[no]fail
This option indicates that named should try [or not try] the next server if a
SERVFAIL is received. The default is to not try the next server, which is the
reverse of normal stub resolver behavior.
+[no]header-only
This option sends 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.
+[no]identify
This option shows [or does not show] the IP address and port number that supplied
the answer, when the +short 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.
+[no]idnin
This option processes [or does not process] IDN domain names on input. This
requires IDN SUPPORT to have been enabled at compile time.
The default is to process IDN input when standard output is a tty. The IDN
processing on input is disabled when dig output is redirected to files, pipes, and
other non-tty file descriptors.
+[no]idnout
This option converts [or does not convert] puny code on output. This requires IDN
SUPPORT to have been enabled at compile time.
The default is to process puny code on output when standard output is a tty. The
puny code processing on output is disabled when dig output is redirected to files,
pipes, and other non-tty file descriptors.
+[no]ignore
This option ignores [or does not ignore] truncation in UDP responses instead of
retrying with TCP. By default, TCP retries are performed.
+[no]keepalive
This option sends [or does not send] an EDNS Keepalive option.
+[no]keepopen
This option keeps [or does not keep] the TCP socket open between queries, and
reuses it rather than creating a new TCP socket for each lookup. The default is
+nokeepopen.
+[no]mapped
This option allows [or does not allow] mapped IPv4-over-IPv6 addresses to be used.
The default is +mapped.
+[no]multiline
This option prints [or does not 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 dig output.
+ndots=D
This option sets the number of dots (D) that must appear in name for it to be
considered absolute. The default value is that defined using the ndots statement in
/etc/resolv.conf, or 1 if no ndots statement is present. Names with fewer dots are
interpreted as relative names, and are searched for in the domains listed in the
search or domain directive in /etc/resolv.conf if +search is set.
+[no]nsid
When enabled, this option includes an EDNS name server ID request when sending a
query.
+[no]nssearch
When this option is set, dig 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 the zone. Addresses of servers that did not respond are also
printed.
+[no]onesoa
When enabled, this option prints only one (starting) SOA record when performing an
AXFR. The default is to print both the starting and ending SOA records.
+[no]opcode=value
When enabled, this option sets (restores) the DNS message opcode to the specified
value. The default value is QUERY (0).
+padding=value
This option pads the size of the query packet using the EDNS Padding option to
blocks of value bytes. For example, +padding=32 causes a 48-byte query to be padded
to 64 bytes. The default block size is 0, which disables padding; the maximum is
512. Values are ordinarily expected to be powers of two, such as 128; however, this
is not mandatory. Responses to padded queries may also be padded, but only if the
query uses TCP or DNS COOKIE.
+[no]qr
This option toggles the display of the query message as it is sent. By default, the
query is not printed.
+[no]question
This option toggles the display of the question section of a query when an answer
is returned. The default is to print the question section as a comment.
+[no]raflag
This option sets [or does not set] the RA (Recursion Available) bit in the query.
The default is +noraflag. This bit is ignored by the server for QUERY.
+[no]rdflag
This option is a synonym for +[no]recurse.
+[no]recurse
This option toggles the setting of the RD (recursion desired) bit in the query.
This bit is set by default, which means dig normally sends recursive queries.
Recursion is automatically disabled when the +nssearch or +trace query option is
used.
+retry=T
This option sets the number of times to retry UDP and TCP queries to server to T
instead of the default, 2. Unlike +tries, this does not include the initial query.
+[no]rrcomments
This option toggles 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.
+[no]search
This option uses [or does not use] the search list defined by the searchlist or
domain directive in resolv.conf, if any. The search list is not used by default.
ndots from resolv.conf (default 1), which may be overridden by +ndots, determines
whether the name is treated as relative and hence whether a search is eventually
performed.
+[no]short
This option toggles whether a terse answer is provided. The default is to print the
answer in a verbose form. This option always has a global effect; it cannot be set
globally and then overridden on a per-lookup basis.
+[no]showsearch
This option performs [or does not perform] a search showing intermediate results.
+[no]sigchase
This feature is now obsolete and has been removed; use delv instead.
+split=W
This option splits long hex- or base64-formatted fields in resource records into
chunks of W characters (where W is rounded up to the nearest multiple of 4).
+nosplit or +split=0 causes fields not to be split at all. The default is 56
characters, or 44 characters when multiline mode is active.
+[no]stats
This option toggles the printing of statistics: when the query was made, the size
of the reply, etc. The default behavior is to print the query statistics as a
comment after each lookup.
+[no]subnet=addr[/prefix-length]
This option sends [or does not send] an EDNS CLIENT-SUBNET option with the
specified IP address or network prefix.
dig +subnet=0.0.0.0/0, or simply dig +subnet=0 for short, sends an EDNS
CLIENT-SUBNET option with an empty address and a source prefix-length of zero,
which signals a resolver that the client's address information must not be used
when resolving this query.
+[no]tcflag
This option sets [or does not set] the TC (TrunCation) bit in the query. The
default is +notcflag. This bit is ignored by the server for QUERY.
+[no]tcp
This option uses [or does not use] TCP when querying name servers. The default
behavior is to use UDP unless a type any or ixfr=N query is requested, in which
case the default is TCP. AXFR queries always use TCP. To prevent retry over TCP
when TC=1 is returned from a UDP query, use +ignore.
+timeout=T
This option sets the timeout for a query to T seconds. The default timeout is 5
seconds. An attempt to set T to less than 1 is silently set to 1.
+[no]topdown
This feature is related to dig +sigchase, which is obsolete and has been removed.
Use delv instead.
+[no]trace
This option toggles 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,
dig makes iterative queries to resolve the name being looked up. It follows
referrals from the root servers, showing the answer from each server that was used
to resolve the lookup.
If @server is also specified, it affects only the initial query for the root zone
name servers.
+dnssec is also set when +trace is set, to better emulate the default queries from
a name server.
+tries=T
This option sets the number of times to try UDP and TCP queries to server to T
instead of the default, 3. If T is less than or equal to zero, the number of tries
is silently rounded up to 1.
+trusted-key=####
This option formerly specified trusted keys for use with dig +sigchase. This
feature is now obsolete and has been removed; use delv instead.
+[no]ttlid
This option displays [or does not display] the TTL when printing the record.
+[no]ttlunits
This option displays [or does not display] the TTL in friendly human-readable time
units of s, m, h, d, and w, representing seconds, minutes, hours, days, and weeks.
This implies +ttlid.
+[no]unexpected
This option accepts [or does not accept] answers from unexpected sources. By
default, dig will not accept a reply from a source other than the one to which it
sent the query.
+[no]unknownformat
This option prints all RDATA in unknown RR type presentation format (RFC 3597).
The default is to print RDATA for known types in the type's presentation format.
+[no]vc
This option uses [or does not use] TCP when querying name servers. This alternate
syntax to +[no]tcp is provided for backwards compatibility. The vc stands for
"virtual circuit."
+[no]yaml
When enabled, this option prints the responses (and, if +qr is in use, also the
outgoing queries) in a detailed YAML format.
+[no]zflag
This option sets [or does not set] the last unassigned DNS header flag in a DNS
query. This flag is off by default.
MULTIPLE QUERIES
The BIND 9 implementation of dig supports specifying multiple queries on the command line
(in addition to supporting the -f batch file option). Each of those queries can be
supplied with its own set of flags, options, and query options.
In this case, each query argument represents an 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 +[no]cmd and +[no]short options) can be overridden by a query-specific set of
query options. For example:
dig +qr www.isc.org any -x 127.0.0.1 isc.org ns +noqr
shows how dig can be used from the command line to make three lookups: an ANY query for
www.isc.org, a reverse lookup of 127.0.0.1, and a query for the NS records of isc.org. A
global query option of +qr is applied, so that dig shows the initial query it made for
each lookup. The final query has a local query option of +noqr which means that dig does
not print the initial query when it looks up the NS records for isc.org.
IDN SUPPORT
If dig has been built with IDN (internationalized domain name) support, it can accept and
display non-ASCII domain names. dig appropriately converts character encoding of a domain
name before sending a request to a DNS server or displaying a reply from the server. To
turn off IDN support, use the parameters +noidnin and +noidnout, or define the IDN_DISABLE
environment variable.
RETURN CODES
dig return codes are:
0 DNS response received, including NXDOMAIN status
1 Usage error
8 Couldn't open batch file
9 No reply from server
10 Internal error
FILES
/etc/resolv.conf
${HOME}/.digrc
SEE ALSO
delv(1), host(1), named(8), dnssec-keygen(8), RFC 1035.
BUGS
There are probably too many query options.
AUTHOR
Internet Systems Consortium
COPYRIGHT
2024, Internet Systems Consortium