Provided by: knot-dnsutils_3.4.4-1_amd64 
NAME
kdig - Advanced DNS lookup utility
SYNOPSIS
kdig [common-settings] [query [settings]]...
kdig -h
DESCRIPTION
This utility sends one or more DNS queries to a nameserver. Each query can have individual settings, or
it can be specified globally via common-settings, which must precede query specification.
Parameters
query name | -q name | -x address | -G tapfile
common-settings, settings
[query_class] [query_type] [@server]... [options]
name Is a domain name that is to be looked up.
server Is a domain name or an IPv4 or IPv6 address of the nameserver to send a query to. An additional
port can be specified using address:port ([address]:port for IPv6 address), address@port, or
address#port notation. A value which begins with '/' character is considered an absolute UNIX
socket path. If no server is specified, the servers from /etc/resolv.conf are used.
If no arguments are provided, kdig sends NS query for the root zone.
Query classes
A query_class can be either a DNS class name (IN, CH) or generic class specification CLASSXXXXX where
XXXXX is a corresponding decimal class number. The default query class is IN.
Query types
A query_type can be either a DNS resource record type (A, AAAA, NS, SOA, DNSKEY, ANY, etc.) or one of the
following:
TYPEXXXXX
Generic query type specification where XXXXX is a corresponding decimal type number.
AXFR Full zone transfer request.
IXFR=serial
Incremental zone transfer request for specified SOA serial number (i.e. all zone updates since the
specified zone version are to be returned).
NOTIFY=serial
Notify message with a SOA serial hint specified.
NOTIFY Notify message with a SOA serial hint unspecified.
The default query type is A.
Options
-4 Use the IPv4 protocol only.
-6 Use the IPv6 protocol only.
-b address
Set the source IP address of the query to address. The address must be a valid address for local
interface or :: or 0.0.0.0. An optional port can be specified in the same format as the server
value.
-c class
An explicit query_class specification. See possible values above.
-d Enable debug messages.
-h, --help
Print the program help.
-k keyfile
Use the TSIG key stored in a file keyfile to authenticate the request. The file must contain the
key in the same format as accepted by the -y option.
-p port
Set the nameserver port number or service name to send a query to. The default port is 53.
-q name
Set the query name. An explicit variant of name specification. If no name is provided, empty
question section is set.
-t type
An explicit query_type specification. See possible values above.
-V, --version
Print the program version. The option -VV makes the program print the compile time configuration
summary.
-x address
Send a reverse (PTR) query for IPv4 or IPv6 address. The correct name, class and type is set
automatically.
-y [alg:]name:key
Use the TSIG key named name to authenticate the request. The alg part specifies the algorithm (the
default is hmac-sha256) and key specifies the shared secret encoded in Base64.
-E tapfile
Export a dnstap trace of the query and response messages received to the file tapfile.
-G tapfile
Generate message output from a previously saved dnstap file tapfile.
+[no]multiline
Wrap long records to more lines and improve human readability.
+[no]short
Show record data only.
+[no]generic
Use the generic representation format when printing resource record types and data.
+[no]crypto
Display the DNSSEC keys and signatures values in base64, instead of omitting them.
+[no]aaflag
Set the AA flag.
+[no]tcflag
Set the TC flag.
+[no]rdflag
Set the RD flag.
+[no]recurse
Same as +[no]rdflag
+[no]raflag
Set the RA flag.
+[no]zflag
Set the zero flag bit.
+[no]adflag
Set the AD flag.
+[no]cdflag
Set the CD flag.
+[no]dnssec
Set the DO flag.
+[no]all
Show all packet sections.
+[no]qr
Show the query packet.
+[no]header
Show the packet header.
+[no]comments
Show commented section names.
+[no]opt
Show the EDNS pseudosection.
+[no]opttext
Try to show unknown EDNS options as text.
+[no]optpresent
Show EDNS in presentation format according to the specification in version
draft-peltan-edns-presentation-format-01.
+[no]question
Show the question section.
+[no]answer
Show the answer section.
+[no]authority
Show the authority section.
+[no]additional
Show the additional section.
+[no]tsig
Show the TSIG pseudosection.
+[no]stats
Show trailing packet statistics.
+[no]class
Show the DNS class.
+[no]ttl
Show the TTL value.
+[no]tcp
Use the TCP protocol (default is UDP for standard query and TCP for AXFR/IXFR).
+[no]fastopen
Use TCP Fast Open.
+[no]ignore
Don't use TCP automatically if a truncated reply is received.
+[no]keepopen
Keep TCP connection open for the following query if it has the same connection configuration. This
applies to +tcp, +tls, and +https operations. The connection is considered in the context of a
single kdig call only.
+[no]tls
Use TLS with the Opportunistic privacy profile (RFC 7858#section-4.1).
+[no]tls-ca[=FILE]
Use TLS with a certificate validation. Certification authority certificates are loaded from the
specified PEM file (default is system certificate storage if no argument is provided). Can be
specified multiple times. If the +tls-hostname option is not provided, the name of the target
server (if specified) is used for strict authentication.
+[no]tls-pin=BASE64
Use TLS with the Out-of-Band key-pinned privacy profile (RFC 7858#section-4.2). The PIN must be a
Base64 encoded SHA-256 hash of the X.509 SubjectPublicKeyInfo. Can be specified multiple times.
+[no]tls-hostname=STR
Use TLS with a remote server hostname check.
+[no]tls-sni=STR
Use TLS with a Server Name Indication.
+[no]tls-keyfile=FILE
Use TLS with a client keyfile.
+[no]tls-certfile=FILE
Use TLS with a client certfile.
+[no]tls-ocsp-stapling[=H]
Use TLS with a valid stapled OCSP response for the server certificate (%u or specify hours). OCSP
responses older than the specified period are considered invalid.
+[no]https[=URL]
Use HTTPS (DNS-over-HTTPS) in wire format (RFC 1035#section-4.2.1). It is also possible to
specify URL=[authority][/path] where request will be sent to. Any leading scheme and authority
indicator (i.e. //) are ignored. Authority might also be specified as the server (using the
parameter @). If path is specified and authority is missing, then the server is used as authority
together with the specified path. Library libnghttp2 is required.
+[no]https-get
Use HTTPS with HTTP/GET method instead of the default HTTP/POST method. Library libnghttp2 is
required.
+[no]quic
Use QUIC (DNS-over-QUIC).
+[no]nsid
Request the nameserver identifier (NSID).
+[no]zoneversion
Request the EDNS zone version.
+[no]bufsize=B
Set EDNS buffer size in bytes (default is 1232 bytes).
+[no]padding[=B]
Use EDNS(0) padding option to pad queries, optionally to a specific size. The default is to pad
queries with a sensible amount when using +tls, and not to pad at all when queries are sent
without TLS. With no argument (i.e., just +padding) pad every query with a sensible amount
regardless of the use of TLS. With +nopadding, never pad.
+[no]alignment[=B]
Align the query to B-byte-block message using the EDNS(0) padding option (default is no or 128 if
no argument is specified).
+[no]subnet=SUBN
Set EDNS(0) client subnet SUBN=addr/prefix.
+[no]edns[=N]
Use EDNS version (default is 0). EDNS(0) is enabled by default.
+[no]timeout=T
Set the wait-for-reply interval in seconds (default is 5 seconds). This timeout applies to each
query attempt. Zero value or notimeout is interpreted as infinity.
+[no]retry=N
Set the number (>=0) of UDP retries (default is 2). This doesn't apply to AXFR/IXFR.
+[no]expire
Sets the EXPIRE EDNS option.
+[no]cookie[=HEX]
Attach EDNS(0) cookie to the query.
+[no]badcookie
Repeat a query with the correct cookie.
+[no]ednsopt[=CODE[:HEX]]
Send custom EDNS option. The CODE is EDNS option code in decimal, HEX is an optional hex encoded
string to use as EDNS option value. This argument can be used multiple times. +noednsopt clears
all EDNS options specified by +ednsopt.
+[no]proxy=SRC_ADDR[#SRC_PORT]-DST_ADDR[#DST_PORT]
Add PROXYv2 header with the specified source and destination addresses to the query. The default
source port is 0 and destination port 53.
+[no]json
Use JSON for output encoding (RFC 8427).
+noidn Disable the IDN transformation to ASCII and vice versa. IDN support depends on libidn2
availability during project building! If used in common-settings, all IDN transformations are
disabled. If used in the individual query settings, transformation from ASCII is disabled on
output for the particular query. Note that IDN transformation does not preserve domain name letter
case.
NOTES
Options -k and -y can not be used simultaneously.
Dnssec-keygen keyfile format is not supported. Use keymgr(8) instead.
EXIT VALUES
Exit status of 0 means successful operation. Any other exit status indicates an error.
EXAMPLES
1. Get A records for example.com:
$ kdig example.com A
2. Perform AXFR for zone example.com from the server 192.0.2.1:
$ kdig example.com -t AXFR @192.0.2.1
3. Get A records for example.com from 192.0.2.1 and reverse lookup for address 2001:DB8::1 from
192.0.2.2. Both using the TCP protocol:
$ kdig +tcp example.com -t A @192.0.2.1 -x 2001:DB8::1 @192.0.2.2
4. Get SOA record for example.com, use TLS, use system certificates, check for specified hostname, check
for certificate pin, and print additional debug info:
$ kdig -d @185.49.141.38 +tls-ca +tls-host=getdnsapi.net \
+tls-pin=foxZRnIh9gZpWnl+zEiKa0EJ2rdCGroMWm02gaxSc9S= soa example.com
5. DNS over HTTPS examples (various DoH implementations):
$ kdig @1.1.1.1 +https example.com.
$ kdig @193.17.47.1 +https=/doh example.com.
$ kdig @8.8.4.4 +https +https-get example.com.
$ kdig @8.8.8.8 +https +tls-hostname=dns.google +fastopen example.com.
6. More queries share one DoT connection:
$ kdig @1.1.1.1 +tls +keepopen abc.example.com A mail.example.com AAAA
FILES
/etc/resolv.conf
SEE ALSO
khost(1), knsupdate(1), keymgr(8).
AUTHOR
CZ.NIC Labs <https://www.knot-dns.cz>
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2010–2025, CZ.NIC, z.s.p.o.