Advanced Search for WHOIS

Use this guide to help craft powerful, flexible WHOIS queries using logical expressions, text matching, wildcard values, and date filters.

This capability is available for all HYAS Insight packages as part of our Domain Registration API. There is no UI support for this capability at this time.

Query Structure Basics

Every advanced search query is an expression made of one or more field-specific conditions joined by logical operators like AND, OR, or NOT.

String Matching

Define the conditions for fields you wish to filter on by specifying the fields, values, and operators based upon the following lists.

Supported operators:

Operator	Description	Example Partial Expression
`=`	Exact match	`registrar = 'NameCheap'`
`!=`	Not equal	`registrar != 'GoDaddy'`

Fields available:

domain
domain_created
domain_expires
domain_updated
registrar
registrant_address
registrant_city
registrant_country
registrant_email
registrant_name
registrant_phone
nameserver

Values:

Use specific values in single quotes to pull back results that include (or exclude) those values. Note that wildcard values are supported for domain and nameserver fields. See HYAS Insight search for additional information on using wildcards.

Tip: Values must be in single quotes ('example.com')

Tip: In order to provide you the most flexibility, there are no volume limits on the results returned for your query. This may result in no returned results due to timeout. Be judicious in defining your query by focusing your search criteria as tightly as possible.

Logical Operators

You can build complex queries using these logical keywords (case-insensitive):

Operator	Purpose	Example Partial Expression
`AND`	Combine multiple filters	`registrar = "NameCheap" AND domain_created >= '2024-01-01T00:00:00Z'`
`OR`	Match one of several filters	`registrar = "GoDaddy" OR registrar = "NameCheap"`
`NOT`	Exclude matches	`NOT registrant_email = "test@example.com"`

Parentheses () can group expressions for clarity and priority.

Date Comparisons

Used to search by WHOIS record timestamps.

Supported date operators:

Operator	Meaning	Example
`=`	On exact date	`domain_created = '2024-06-01T00:00:00Z'`
`!=`	Not on this date	`domain_expires != '2025-01-01T00:00:00Z'`
`>`	After this date	`domain_created > '2023-01-01T00:00:00Z'`
`<`	Before this date	`domain_expires < '2022-12-31T23:59:59Z'`
`>=`	On or after this date	`domain_created >= '2023-01-01T00:00:00Z'`
`<=`	On or before this date	`domain_expires <= '2025-01-01T00:00:00Z'`

Accepted formats:

CODE

yyyy-MM-dd
yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss
yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ
yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss+HH:mm
yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss-HH:mm

Example Queries

Domains with specific string from specific registrar after 2024:

CODE

domain = '*arty.com' AND registrar = 'PDR Ltd.' AND domain_created >= '2024-01-01T00:00:00Z'

Domains ending in …bank.co NOT created by ProtonMail or Gmail users:

CODE

domain = '*bank.co' NOT (registrant_email = '*@proton.me' OR registrant_email = '*@gmail.com')

Domains with specific string and registrant organization which are recently expired:

CODE

domain = "*arty.com' AND registrant_organization = 'Example Corp' AND domain_expires < '2025-06-01T00:00:00Z'

Best Practices

Use quotes ('...') for all string or date values.
Combine multiple expressions with AND, OR, and NOT.
Use parentheses () to group and prioritize logic.
Match partial values using wildcards like *example.com.