KHOST(1)

📦
version 3.6.2 · 16 versions
, in nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0

✨ NAME ✨

okay bestie, meet khost — the simple DNS lookup utility from Knot DNS (manual name KHOST(1), and yes we're getting into it 💅). It's the cute little lookup tool that keeps things readable, fr fr.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

khost [options] name [server]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

So khost sends a DNS query for name to server and prints the reply in a more user-readable form. It's giving simple and readable energy. For more advanced DNS queries use kdig instead. No cap.

Parameters 🎀

  • name — a domain name that is to be looked up. If name is an IPv4 or IPv6 address, the PTR query type is used. Reverse vibes ✨
  • server — a name or an address of the nameserver to send a query to. The address can be specified using [address]:port notation. If no server is specified, the servers from /etc/resolv.conf are used. Periodt.

If no arguments are provided, khost prints a short help. Cute of it 🫶

Options 💅

  • -4 — Use the IPv4 protocol only.
  • -6 — Use the IPv6 protocol only.
  • -a — Send ANY query with verbose mode.
  • -d — Enable debug messages.
  • -h, --help — Print the program help.
  • -r — Disable recursion.
  • -T — Use the TCP protocol.
  • -v — Enable verbose output.
  • -V, --version — Print the program version. The option -VV makes the program print the compile time configuration summary.
  • -w — Wait forever for the reply.
  • -c class — Set the query class (e.g. CH, CLASS4). The default class is IN.
  • -t type — Set the query type (e.g. NS, IXFR=12345, TYPE65535). The default is to send 3 queries (A, AAAA and MX).
  • -R retries — The number (>=0) of UDP retries to query a nameserver. The default is 1.
  • -W wait — The time to wait for a reply in seconds. This timeout applies to each query try. The default is 2 seconds.

⭐ EXIT VALUES ⭐

Exit status of 0 means successful operation. Any other exit status indicates an error. So if it's not 0, something's up bestie 😭.

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

  1. Get the A, AAAA and MX records for example.com:
$ khost example.com
  1. Get the reverse record for address 192.0.2.1:
$ khost 192.0.2.1
  1. Perform a verbose zone transfer for zone example.com:
$ khost -t AXFR -v example.com

🍓 FILES 🍓

  • /etc/resolv.conf

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

👑 AUTHOR 👑

the icons behind this: CZ.NIC, z.s.p.o. and contributors <https://www.knot-dns.cz/>

Copyright (C) CZ.NIC, z.s.p.o. and contributors

okay that's the whole KHOST(1) page, bestie — version 3.6.2, dated 2026-10-21, from the Knot DNS manual. mwah 💋💖

📦 where this page comes from