Short, fast micro-whois
90% of my whois queries are to check whether a domain name is registered, where I don't need any details. Here's a Bash function to check domain availability; type one character, get one character.
Problem: I want a responsive checker that I can start in an instant, with almost no typing. It should be omnipresent: accessible from as many desktop windows as possible, without task switching. Rather than showing details, output should be short so I can see my query history evolve. And since most domains are registered (and I want to get past them), response time matters for registered domains more than available ones.
Solution: I have this bash function in my .bashrc (update: two versions by request -- shell script and Ruby). You can download micro-whois here.
and voila, zero-effort domain name availability:
$ d yort.com
1
$ d ihopethisonedomainisnotregistered.com
0
Registered
$ time d yort.com
1 real 0m0.260s
$ time whois -n yort.com
.. [ 60 lines ]
real 0m0.782s
Unregistered
$ time d ihopethisonedomainisnotregistered.com
real 0m0.649s
$ time whois -n ihopethisonedomainisnotregistered.com
real 0m0.657s
