dig has the worst output I've ever seen in a CLI tool. Fantastically useful when I've bothered to learn it, but it's just not intuitive. I always forget what everything means. What am I looking at here? The _lack_ of an answer section?
$ ping nxdomain.example.com
ping: nxdomain.example.com: Name or service not known
$ ping example.com
PING example.com(2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946 (2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946)) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946 (2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946): icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=93.2 ms
$ host nxdomain.example.com
Host nxdomain.example.com not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
$ host example.com
example.com has address 93.184.216.34
example.com has IPv6 address 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
example.com mail is handled by 0 .
$ nslookup nxdomain.example.com
Server: 127.0.0.53
Address: 127.0.0.53#53
** server can't find nxdomain.example.com: NXDOMAIN
$ nslookup example.com
Server: 127.0.0.53
Address: 127.0.0.53#53
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: example.com
Address: 93.184.216.34
Name: example.com
Address: 2606:2800:220:1:248:1893:25c8:1946
> dog A readlang.com
A readlang.com. 1h57m12s 139.144.234.197
> dog A someinvalidserver.com
Status: NXDomain
Alternatively use the short format as suggested by another comment:
$ dig a www.readlang.com +short
readlang.com.
139.144.234.197
I mean, sure I can decipher that "rcvd" stands for "received" but if I have my timeline correct there never was a time when such character count mattered and dig existed.
This output is the result of using the dig command to query the DNS (Domain Name System) for an A (Address) record associated with the domain name "www.readlang.com". Here's a breakdown of the output:
; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> a www.readlang.com: This line shows the version of dig being used (9.10.6) and the command executed (dig a www.readlang.com). The "a" argument is asking for the IPv4 address associated with the domain name.
;; global options: +cmd: This line displays global options for the dig command. "+cmd" is a default option that includes the initial command line in the output.
;; Got answer:: This line indicates that the DNS server has provided an answer to the query.
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 65131: This line shows details about the response header. "opcode: QUERY" means it's a standard query, "status: NXDOMAIN" indicates that the domain name does not exist (non-existent domain), and "id: 65131" is a unique identifier for this query.
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1: This line provides information about the response flags and the number of entries in each section of the response. "qr" means the response is a query response, "rd" indicates recursion was desired, and "ra" means recursion is available. The number of entries in the QUERY, ANSWER, AUTHORITY, and ADDITIONAL sections are 1, 0, 0, and 1, respectively.
;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION: and ; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1280: This part shows information about the Extension Mechanisms for DNS (EDNS). The version is 0, and the UDP payload size is 1280 bytes.
;; QUESTION SECTION: and ;www.readlang.com. IN A: This part displays the question section of the query, which is asking for the A record (IPv4 address) associated with "www.readlang.com".
;; Query time: 62 msec: This line shows that the query took 62 milliseconds to complete.
;; SERVER: 2406:3400:41e:5a80::1#53(2406:3400:41e:5a80::1): This line displays the IPv6 address and port number of the DNS server that responded to the query.
;; WHEN: Fri Mar 24 10:06:36 AEST 2023: This line indicates the date and time when the query was executed.
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 45: This line shows that the total size of the message received was 45 bytes.
The main takeaway from this output is that the domain name "www.readlang.com" does not have an associated IPv4 address (A record) in the DNS, as indicated by the "status: NXDOMAIN" and "ANSWER: 0" parts.