# Dig (command)

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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dig_(command).md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_(command)
> Source revision: 1339706778
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Network administration command-line tool}}
{{refimprove|date=April 2011}}
{{lowercase}}
{{Infobox software
| name = dig
| logo = 
| screenshot = DiG 9.18.1 screenshot.png
| screenshot size = 
| caption = 
| author = Steve Hotz, Michael Sawyer
| developer = [Internet Systems Consortium](/source/Internet_Systems_Consortium) (originally [Computer Systems Research Group](/source/Computer_Systems_Research_Group))
| repo = https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/bind9/
| operating system = [Linux](/source/Linux), [NetBSD](/source/NetBSD), [FreeBSD](/source/FreeBSD), [OpenBSD](/source/OpenBSD), [macOS](/source/macOS), [Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows), [Solaris](/source/Solaris_(operating_system)), [illumos](/source/illumos), [OpenVMS](/source/OpenVMS)
| genre = DNS lookup tool
| license = [Mozilla Public License](/source/Mozilla_Public_License) ([ISC license](/source/ISC_license) before 9.11<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/bind9/-/commit/0c27b3fe77ac1d5094ba3521e8142d9e7973133f|title=4401. [misc] Change LICENSE to MPL 2.0.|access-date=2026-02-22}}</ref>)
| website = https://www.isc.org/bind/
}}

'''dig''' is a [network administration](/source/network_administration) [command-line tool](/source/command-line_tool) for querying the [Domain Name System](/source/Domain_Name_System) (DNS).

dig is useful for network troubleshooting and for educational purposes.<ref name="linuxize">{{Cite web |date=2020-02-26 |title=Dig Command in Linux (DNS Lookup) |url=https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-use-dig-command-to-query-dns-in-linux/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=linuxize.com}}</ref> It can operate based on command line option and flag arguments, or in batch mode by reading requests from an operating system file. When a specific [name server](/source/name_server) is not specified in the command invocation, it uses the operating system's default resolver, usually configured in the file [resolv.conf](/source/resolv.conf). Without any arguments it queries the [DNS root zone](/source/DNS_root_zone).

dig supports [Internationalized domain name](/source/Internationalized_domain_name) (IDN) queries.

dig is a component of the domain name server software suite [BIND](/source/BIND). dig supersedes in functionality older tools, such as [nslookup](/source/nslookup) and the program [host](/source/host_(Unix)); however, the older tools are still used in complementary fashion.

== Example usage ==

=== Basic ===
In this example, dig is used to query for '''''any''''' type of record information in the domain ''example.com'':

<syntaxhighlight lang="zone" highlight="1" style="font-size:8pt;">
$ dig example.com any
; <<>> DiG 9.6.1 <<>> example.com any
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 4016
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;example.com.                   IN      ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
example.com.            172719  IN      NS      a.iana-servers.net.
example.com.            172719  IN      NS      b.iana-servers.net.
example.com.            172719  IN      A       208.77.188.166
example.com.            172719  IN      SOA     dns1.icann.org. hostmaster.icann.org. 2007051703 7200 3600 1209600 86400

;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: ::1#53(::1)
;; WHEN: Wed Aug 12 11:40:43 2009
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 154
</syntaxhighlight>

The number '''''172719''''' in the above example is the [time to live](/source/Time_to_live) value, which indicates the time of validity of the data.

The '''''any''''' DNS query is a special meta query which is now deprecated. Since [https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc8482 around 2019], most public DNS servers have stopped answering most DNS '''''ANY''''' queries usefully [https://blog.cloudflare.com/rfc8482-saying-goodbye-to-any/ RFC8482 - Saying goodbye to ANY].

If '''''ANY''''' queries do not enumerate multiple records, the only option is to request each [record type](/source/List_of_DNS_record_types) (e.g. A, CNAME, or MX) individually.

=== Specific DNS server ===
Queries may be directed to designated DNS servers for specific records; in this example, [MX record](/source/MX_record)s:
<syntaxhighlight lang="zone" highlight="1" style="font-size:8pt;">
$ dig wikimedia.org MX @ns0.wikimedia.org
; <<>> DiG 9.11.3 <<>> wikimedia.org MX @ns0.wikimedia.org
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 39041
;; flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; WARNING: recursion requested but not available

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1024
; COOKIE: c9735311d2d2fa6e3b334ab01b67960d (good)
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;wikimedia.org.                 IN      MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
wikimedia.org.          3600    IN      MX      10 mx1001.wikimedia.org.
wikimedia.org.          3600    IN      MX      50 mx2001.wikimedia.org.

;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: 208.80.154.238#53(208.80.154.238)
;; WHEN: Sat Sep 18 21:33:24 PDT 2021
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 108
</syntaxhighlight>

=== With output formatting ===
There are many [https://downloads.isc.org/isc/bind9/9.20.11/doc/arm/html/manpages.html#dig-dns-lookup-utility output formatting options] available. A common selection to make the output more terse is:

<syntaxhighlight lang="zone" highlight="1" style="font-size:8pt;">
$ dig +noall +answer +multiline wikimedia.org MX
wikimedia.org.          3600 IN MX 10 mx1001.wikimedia.org.
wikimedia.org.          3600 IN MX 50 mx2001.wikimedia.org.
</syntaxhighlight>

Where '''''+noall +answer +multiline''''' are simply output formatting flags.

==History==

dig was originally written by Steve Hotz and incorporated into [BIND](/source/BIND) 4 since at least 1990;<ref name=hotz>{{cite web |title=dig (4.4BSD of 1990) |url=https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=dig&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=4.4BSD+Lite2&arch=default&format=html |website=man.freebsd.org |access-date=2024-05-17}}</ref> later it was rewritten by Michael Sawyer, and is maintained by the [Internet Systems Consortium](/source/Internet_Systems_Consortium) as part of BIND 9.

When originally written, the manual page for dig indicated that its name was an acronym for "Domain Information Groper".{{r|hotz}} This expansion was removed in 2017; the tool's name is now simply "dig".<ref>{{cite web |title=remove unnecessary acronym expansions |url=https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/bind9/-/commit/cee0d603a3b142df744d94b18cf42f086cdb0ff7 |website=gitlab.isc.org | date=2017-07-28|access-date=2025-11-23}}</ref>

==See also==
* [BIND](/source/BIND) name server
* [Root name server](/source/Root_name_server) – top-level name servers providing top level domain name resolution
* [List of DNS record types](/source/List_of_DNS_record_types) – possible types of records stored and queried within DNS
* [whois](/source/whois)
* [host](/source/Host_(Unix)) is a simple utility for performing Domain Name System lookups
* [nslookup](/source/nslookup), another utility that can be used to obtain similar information

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* Paul Albitz and Cricket Liu. DNS and BIND, 5th Edition. Nutshell Series. O'Reilly and Associates, Inc., 2006.

==External links==
* [https://downloads.isc.org/isc/bind9/9.20.11/doc/arm/html/manpages.html#dig-dns-lookup-utility Official BIND 9 man page for dig]
* [https://www.madboa.com/geek/dig/ How to use dig to query DNS name servers]
* [https://gitlab.isc.org/isc-projects/bind9/-/tree/main/bin/dig Dig source code in ISC Gitlab repository]

{{Unix commands}}

Category:DNS software
Category:Domain Name System
Category:Free network-related software

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dig (command)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_(command)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_(command)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.