Linux dig Command

The Linux dig command is useful for DNS lookup and to query specific DNS name servers.

Basic syntax is:

dig hostname

This will give you a generic answer similar to this:

; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> oopsla.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 31918
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4000
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;oopsla.com.			IN	A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
oopsla.com.		8	IN	A	54.147.36.143
oopsla.com.		8	IN	A	54.173.18.128
;; Query time: 45 msec
;; SERVER: 172.16.10.108#53(172.16.10.108)
;; WHEN: Wed Mar 22 10:54:37 EDT 2023
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 71

To ask a specific DNS name server use the below Linux dig command:

dig @dns-name-server <hostnameToQuery>

Select DNS query type with the dig command. The syntax is below:

dig hostname type

For example, you want to query mail records(MX records)

dig myhostname MX

Query for A records:

dig cocotu.com A

If you like to find the hostname of an IP address:

dig <sampleIP>
dig 32.124.233.153

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