README

NAME
    Net::Nslookup - Provide nslookup(1)-like capabilities

SYNOPSIS
      use Net::Nslookup;
      my @addrs = nslookup $host;

      my @mx = nslookup(type => "MX", domain => "perl.org");

DESCRIPTION
    "Net::Nslookup" provides the capabilities of the standard UNIX command
    line tool nslookup(1). "Net::DNS" is a wonderful and full featured
    module, but quite often, all you need is `nslookup $host`. This module
    provides that functionality.

    "Net::Nslookup" exports a single function, called "nslookup". "nslookup"
    can be used to retrieve A, PTR, CNAME, MX, NS, SOA, TXT, and SRV
    records.

      my $a  = nslookup(host => "use.perl.org", type => "A");

      my @mx = nslookup(domain => "perl.org", type => "MX");

      my @ns = nslookup(domain => "perl.org", type => "NS");

      my $name = nslookup(host => "206.33.105.41", type => "PTR");

      my @srv = nslookup(term => "_jabber._tcp.gmail.com", type => "SRV");

    "nslookup" takes a hash of options, one of which should be *term*, and
    performs a DNS lookup on that term. The type of lookup is determined by
    the *type* argument. If *server* is specified (it should be an IP
    address, or a reference to an array of IP addresses), that server(s)
    will be used for lookups.

    If only a single argument is passed in, the type defaults to *A*, that
    is, a normal A record lookup.

    If "nslookup" is called in a list context, and there is more than one
    address, an array is returned. If "nslookup" is called in a scalar
    context, and there is more than one address, "nslookup" returns the
    first address. If there is only one address returned, then, naturally,
    it will be the only one returned, regardless of the calling context.

    *domain* and *host* are synonyms for *term*, and can be used to make
    client code more readable. For example, use *domain* when getting NS
    records, and use *host* for A records; both do the same thing.

    *server* should be a single IP address or a reference to an array of IP
    addresses:

      my @a = nslookup(host => 'example.com', server => '4.2.2.1');

      my @a = nslookup(host => 'example.com', server => [ '4.2.2.1', '128.103.1.1' ])

    By default, when doing CNAME, MX, and NS lookups, "nslookup" returns
    names, not addresses. This is a change from versions prior to 2.0, which
    always tried to resolve names to addresses. Pass the *recurse => 1* flag
    to "nslookup" to have it follow CNAME, MX, and NS lookups. Note that
    this usage of "recurse" is not consistent with the official DNS meaning
    of recurse.

        # returns soemthing like ("mail.example.com")
        my @mx = nslookup(domain => 'example.com', type => 'MX');

        # returns soemthing like ("127.0.0.1")
        my @mx = nslookup(domain => 'example.com', type => 'MX', recurse => 1);

    SOA lookups return the SOA record in the same format as the `host` tool:

        print nslookup(domain => 'example.com', type => 'SOA');
        dns1.icann.org. hostmaster.icann.org. 2011061433 7200 3600 1209600 3600

TIMEOUTS
    Lookups timeout after 15 seconds by default, but this can be configured
    by passing *timeout => X* to "nslookup".

DEBUGGING
    Pass *debug => 1* to "nslookup" to emit debugging messages to STDERR.

AUTHOR
    darren chamberlain <darren@cpan.org>