6 Example Usage of the host Command
The host utility is recommended for performing DNS lookups. Without any arguments, the command displays a summary of its command line arguments and options.
For more information, see the host(1) manual page.
Look Up IP Address
Look up the IP address for host01:
host host01Perform a Reverse Lookup
Perform a reverse lookup for the domain name that corresponds to an IP address:
sudo host 192.168.2.101Query DNS for an IP Address
Query DNS for the IP address that corresponds to a domain:
sudo host dns.us.example.comDisplay Verbose Output
Display verbose information about records of a certain type by using the -v and -t options:
sudo host -v -t MX www.example.comTrying "www.example.com"
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 49643
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.example.com. IN MX
;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.example.com. 135 IN CNAME www.example.com.
www.example.com. 1240 IN CNAME d4077.c.example.com.
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
c.example.com. 2000 IN SOA m0e.example.com. hostmaster.example.com. ...
Received 163 bytes from 10.0.0.1#53 in 40 msThe -a option, which is equivalent to the -v, -t, and ANY options displays all of the available records for a zone. For example:
sudo host -a www.us.example.comTrying "www.us.example.com"
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 40030
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.us.example.com. IN ANY
;; ANSWER SECTION:
www.us.example.com. 263 IN CNAME www.us.example.com.
Received 72 bytes from 10.0.0.1#53 in 32 ms