Currently whois(1) displays the full output it receives from the
server.  With this change, any text after a line starting with
">>> Last update of WHOIS database:" is dropped.  This trims a lot
of useless text that would otherwise cause the data you care about
to scroll off the screen.

From FreeBSD.

 - todd

Index: usr.bin/whois/whois.1
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1,v
retrieving revision 1.39
diff -u -p -u -r1.39 whois.1
--- usr.bin/whois/whois.1	5 Mar 2024 16:06:32 -0000	1.39
+++ usr.bin/whois/whois.1	15 Mar 2024 21:13:34 -0000
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 .Nd Internet domain name and network number directory service
 .Sh SYNOPSIS
 .Nm whois
-.Op Fl AadgIilmPQRr
+.Op Fl AadgIilmPQRrS
 .Oo
 .Fl c Ar country-code | Fl h Ar host
 .Oc
@@ -201,6 +201,16 @@ Use the Reseaux IP Europeens
 .Pq Tn RIPE
 database.
 It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
+.It Fl S
+By default
+.Nm
+adjusts simple queries (without spaces) to produce more useful output
+from certain whois servers, and it suppresses some uninformative output.
+With the
+.Fl S
+option,
+.Nm
+sends the query and prints the output verbatim.
 .El
 .Pp
 The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
Index: usr.bin/whois/whois.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/whois/whois.c,v
retrieving revision 1.59
diff -u -p -u -r1.59 whois.c
--- usr.bin/whois/whois.c	5 Mar 2024 16:06:32 -0000	1.59
+++ usr.bin/whois/whois.c	15 Mar 2024 21:08:13 -0000
@@ -64,8 +64,11 @@
 #define	WHOIS_PORT	"whois"
 #define	WHOIS_SERVER_ID	"Registrar WHOIS Server:"
 
-#define WHOIS_RECURSE		0x01
-#define WHOIS_QUICK		0x02
+#define WHOIS_RECURSE	0x01
+#define WHOIS_QUICK	0x02
+#define WHOIS_SPAM_ME	0x04
+
+#define CHOPSPAM	">>> Last update of WHOIS database:"
 
 const char *port_whois = WHOIS_PORT;
 const char *ip_whois[] = { LNICHOST, RNICHOST, PNICHOST, BNICHOST,
@@ -83,7 +86,7 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	country = host = NULL;
 	flags = rval = 0;
-	while ((ch = getopt(argc, argv, "aAc:dgh:iIlmp:PqQrR")) != -1)
+	while ((ch = getopt(argc, argv, "aAc:dgh:iIlmp:PqQrRS")) != -1)
 		switch (ch) {
 		case 'a':
 			host = ANICHOST;
@@ -133,6 +136,9 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		case 'R':
 			host = RUNICHOST;
 			break;
+		case 'S':
+			flags |= WHOIS_SPAM_ME;
+			break;
 		default:
 			usage();
 		}
@@ -206,11 +212,13 @@ whois(const char *query, const char *ser
 		return (1);
 	}
 
-	if (strcmp(server, "whois.denic.de") == 0 ||
-	    strcmp(server, "de" QNICHOST_TAIL) == 0)
+	if (!(flags & WHOIS_SPAM_ME) &&
+	    (strcmp(server, "whois.denic.de") == 0 ||
+	    strcmp(server, "de" QNICHOST_TAIL) == 0))
 		fmt = "-T dn,ace -C ISO-8859-1 %s\r\n";
-	else if (strcmp(server, "whois.dk-hostmaster.dk") == 0 ||
-	    strcmp(server, "dk" QNICHOST_TAIL) == 0)
+	else if (!(flags & WHOIS_SPAM_ME) &&
+	    (strcmp(server, "whois.dk-hostmaster.dk") == 0 ||
+	    strcmp(server, "dk" QNICHOST_TAIL) == 0))
 		fmt = "--show-handles %s\r\n";
 	else
 		fmt = "%s\r\n";
@@ -222,6 +230,11 @@ whois(const char *query, const char *ser
 	fflush(fp);
 	nhost = NULL;
 	while ((buf = fgetln(fp, &len)) != NULL) {
+		/* Nominet */
+		if (!(flags & WHOIS_SPAM_ME) &&
+		    len == 5 && strncmp(buf, "-- \r\n", 5) == 0)
+			break;
+
 		p = buf + len - 1;
 		if (isspace((unsigned char)*p)) {
 			do
@@ -236,30 +249,38 @@ whois(const char *query, const char *ser
 		}
 		puts(buf);
 
-		if (nhost != NULL || !(flags & WHOIS_RECURSE))
-			continue;
-
-		if ((p = strstr(buf, WHOIS_SERVER_ID))) {
-			p += sizeof(WHOIS_SERVER_ID) - 1;
-			while (isblank((unsigned char)*p))
-				p++;
-			if ((len = strcspn(p, " \t\n\r"))) {
-				if ((nhost = malloc(len + 1)) == NULL)
-					err(1, "malloc");
-				memcpy(nhost, p, len);
-				nhost[len] = '\0';
-			}
-		} else if (strcmp(server, ANICHOST) == 0) {
-			for (p = buf; *p != '\0'; p++)
-				*p = tolower((unsigned char)*p);
-			for (i = 0; ip_whois[i] != NULL; i++) {
-				if (strstr(buf, ip_whois[i]) != NULL) {
-					nhost = strdup(ip_whois[i]);
-					if (nhost == NULL)
-						err(1, "strdup");
-					break;
+		if (nhost == NULL && (flags & WHOIS_RECURSE)) {
+			if ((p = strstr(buf, WHOIS_SERVER_ID))) {
+				p += sizeof(WHOIS_SERVER_ID) - 1;
+				while (isblank((unsigned char)*p))
+					p++;
+				if ((len = strcspn(p, " \t\n\r"))) {
+					if ((nhost = malloc(len + 1)) == NULL)
+						err(1, "malloc");
+					memcpy(nhost, p, len);
+					nhost[len] = '\0';
+				}
+			} else if (strcmp(server, ANICHOST) == 0) {
+				for (p = buf; *p != '\0'; p++)
+					*p = tolower((unsigned char)*p);
+				for (i = 0; ip_whois[i] != NULL; i++) {
+					if (strstr(buf, ip_whois[i]) != NULL) {
+						nhost = strdup(ip_whois[i]);
+						if (nhost == NULL)
+							err(1, "strdup");
+						break;
+					}
 				}
 			}
+		}
+
+		/* Verisign etc. */
+		if (!(flags & WHOIS_SPAM_ME) &&
+		    len >= sizeof(CHOPSPAM)-1 &&
+		    (strncasecmp(buf, CHOPSPAM, sizeof(CHOPSPAM)-1) == 0 ||
+		     strncasecmp(buf, &CHOPSPAM[4], sizeof(CHOPSPAM)-5) == 0)) {
+			printf("\n");
+			break;
 		}
 	}
 	fclose(fp);