One of the helpful options provided by the RIPE WHOIS server is the --types option which provides a list of what specific object types a given set of query results may be restricted to.
That list is as follows: inetnum inet6num as-block aut-num as-set route route6 route-set inet-rtr filter-set peering-set rtr-set domain poetic-form poem mntner irt key-cert organisation role person Can anyone explain to me why "netname" is not on the above list? I would like to be able to query the data base for "ABC" but restrict the query so that I only get back the records for the dozen or so IP blocks whose registrants have (unwisely?) elected to label their networks as "ABC", while NOT also getting back all 16 or so of the organisation objects whose org-name: field contains the substring "ABC", much less the numerous and additional person and role records whose person: and role: fields also and likewise contain the substring "ABC". If I can selectively query just for poems, is there some reason why netnames deserve less respect? And as long as we are on the subject, may I safely infer from the presence, in the data base, of a dozen different networks named "ABC" that no attempt has ever been made to insure uniqueness of netnames within the data base? Are netnames even restricted, as they seem to be, to having a form which is rather strikingly reminicent of actual unique data base handles, i.e. consisting of only alphanumerics and hyphens? Regards, rfg P.S. I do not mean to pick on RIPE specifically here. A quick check reveals that whois.apnic.net and whois.afrinic.net also fail to support selective querying for just netnames... although in those two cases selective quering for poems is also not an option... a sad fact that has left me rather entirely bereft, as I'm sure you can all imagine.
