Domain Expiration Check Shell Script

A simple shell script to display or notify the user via email about domain status and expiry date.

Installation:

Use the curl or wget command to grab script as follows:

$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/click0/domain-check-2/master/domain-check-2.sh
## [ sample domain list for testing purpose ] ##
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/click0/domain-check-2/master/domain-list.txt
## [ install it in /usr/local/bin dir ] ##
$ sudo cp -vf domain-check-2.sh /usr/local/bin/domain-check-2
$ sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/domain-check-2

Requirements:

Requires whois, curl, mail (mailutils).

Tested on FreeBSD (/bin/sh, BSD userland) and Linux (bash, GNU userland).

curl is used for the RDAP fallback (many registries dropped port-43 WHOIS after the ICANN sunset - e.g. .app, .info, .mobi, .pro and all Identity Digital TLDs) and for domains in the .kz zone (the registry does not publish expiration dates via whois, so the script queries the whois page of hoster.kz).

Optional: timeout (coreutils / FreeBSD base) - if present, whois queries are limited to 15 seconds instead of hanging on dead servers.

Usage:

Run it as follows:

$ domain-check-2 -d google.com
$ domain-check-2 -f domain-list.txt
$ domain-check-2 -f domain-list.txt -a -e admin@my-cool-domain.com

How it works:

1. The registrar and expiration date are taken from whois (port 43). The whois server of each TLD is discovered via whois.iana.org and cached between runs in /var/tmp/domain-check-2.servers (override the path via the IANA_CACHE environment variable, remove the file to force a refresh).
2. If whois returns nothing or hides the dates, the script falls back to RDAP via the rdap.org bootstrap redirector.
3. ccTLD registries that run RDAP but are missing from the IANA bootstrap are queried directly (.kz via rdap.nic.kz).
4. Registries that publish the registrar but never the expiration date (.at, .ae, .be, .nz, .ro, .nl, .no, .lu, .com.pe) are reported with the status Hidden.
5. registro.br (.br / .com.br) aggressively rate limits by IP - both its whois and RDAP go quiet for a day or longer after a burst of queries; such domains may occasionally show Unknown on large runs.
6. Zones with no public whois or RDAP data at all are honestly reported as Unknown: .al, .az, .ba, .bg, .bs, .bt, .cd, .cf, .cg, .ch, .li, .de, .es, .gr, .hu, .tk, .ga, .com.sa and a few other small registries.

Sample outputs:

Domain                              Registrar                                      Status   Expires     Days Left
----------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- -------- ----------- ---------
nixcraft.com                        NameCheap, Inc.                                Valid    10-may-2024   756
google.org                          MarkMonitor Inc.                               Valid    20-oct-2022   188
google.net                          MarkMonitor Inc.                               Valid    15-mar-2023   334
google.info                         MarkMonitor Inc.                               Valid    31-jul-2022   107
cyberciti.biz                       NameCheap, Inc.                                Valid    30-jun-2025   1172
google.in                           MarkMonitor Inc.                               Valid    14-feb-2023   305
google.co.in                        MarkMonitor Inc.                               Valid    23-jun-2022   69
google.us                           MarkMonitor, Inc.                              Valid    18-apr-2023   368
google.uk                           Markmonitor Inc.                               Valid    11-Jun-2022   57
google.co.uk                        Markmonitor Inc.                               Valid    14-Feb-2023   305
google.jp                           Google LLC                                     Valid    31-may-2022   46
google.cz                           REG-MARKMONITOR                                Valid    22-jul-2022   98
google.pl                           Markmonitor,Inc.                               Valid    18-sep-2022   156
google.co                           MarkMonitor, Inc.                              Valid    24-feb-2023   315
google.ru                           RU-CENTER-RU                                   Valid    04-mar-2023   323
google.blog                         MarkMonitor, Inc                               Valid    19-aug-2022   126
linux.cafe                          Porkbun LLC                                    Valid    14-nov-2022   213
google.co                           MarkMonitor, Inc.                              Valid    24-feb-2023   315
dotmobi.mobi                        CSC Corporate Domains, Inc.                    Expiring 11-may-2022   26
google.me                           MarkMonitor Inc.                               Valid    13-jun-2022   59
google.us                           MarkMonitor, Inc.                              Valid    18-apr-2023   368
google.su                           RUCENTER-SU                                    Valid    15-oct-2022   183
youtube.tv                          MarkMonitor Inc.                               Valid    14-aug-2022   121
abc.xyz                             MarkMonitor, Inc (TLDs)                        Valid    20-mar-2025   1070
google.se                           MarkMonitor Inc                                Valid    20-oct-2022   188
google.dk                           DK Hostmaster A/S                              Valid    31-mar-2023   350

Setup Unix/Linux cron job as follows to get email notification to send expiration notices:

@daily /path/to/domain-check-2.sh -f /path/to/your-domains.txt -a -e you@example.com

Getting help

$ domain-check-2.sh -h
Usage: domain-check-2.sh [ -e email ] [ -x expir_days ] [ -q ] [ -a ] [ -h ] [ -v ] [ -V ]
         [ -s whois_server ] {[ -d domain_name ]} || { -f domainfile}

  -a               : Send a warning message through email
  -d domain        : Domain to analyze (interactive mode)
  -e email address : Email address to send expiration notices
  -f domain file   : File with a list of domains
  -h               : Print this screen
  -s whois server  : Whois sever to query for information
  -q               : Don't print anything on the console
  -x days          : Domain expiration interval (eg. if domain_date < days)
  -v               : Show debug information when running script
  -V               : Print version of the script

Authors:

• Origianl Author: Matty < matty91 at gmail dot com > https://github.com/Matty9191
• Forked by nixCraft https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/domain-check-script.html
• Forked and maintained by Vladislav V. Prodan <github.com/click0>

🤝 Contributing

Contributions, issues and feature requests are welcome!
Feel free to check issues page.

Show your support

Give a ⭐ if this project helped you!