1LDAPSEARCH(1) General Commands Manual LDAPSEARCH(1)
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6 ldapsearch - LDAP search tool
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9 ldapsearch [-n] [-c] [-u] [-v] [-t[t]] [-T path] [-F prefix] [-A]
10 [-L[L[L]]] [-M[M]] [-S attribute] [-d debuglevel] [-f file] [-x]
11 [-D binddn] [-W] [-w passwd] [-y passwdfile] [-H ldapuri] [-h ldaphost]
12 [-p ldapport] [-b searchbase] [-s {base|one|sub|children}]
13 [-a {never|always|search|find}] [-P {2|3}] [-e [!]ext[=extparam]]
14 [-E [!]ext[=extparam]] [-l timelimit] [-z sizelimit] [-O security-prop‐
15 erties] [-I] [-Q] [-U authcid] [-R realm] [-X authzid] [-Y mech]
16 [-Z[Z]] filter [attrs...]
17
19 ldapsearch is a shell-accessible interface to the ldap_search_ext(3)
20 library call.
21 ldapsearch opens a connection to an LDAP server, binds, and performs a
23 search using specified parameters. The filter should conform to the
24 string representation for search filters as defined in RFC 4515. If
25 not provided, the default filter, (objectClass=*), is used.
26 If ldapsearch finds one or more entries, the attributes specified by
28 attrs are returned. If * is listed, all user attributes are returned.
29 If + is listed, all operational attributes are returned. If no attrs
30 are listed, all user attributes are returned. If only 1.1 is listed,
31 no attributes will be returned.
32 The search results are displayed using an extended version of LDIF.
34 Option -L controls the format of the output.
35
37 -n Show what would be done, but don't actually perform the search.
38 Useful for debugging in conjunction with -v.
39 -c Continuous operation mode. Errors are reported, but ldapsearch
41 will continue with searches. The default is to exit after
42 reporting an error. Only useful in conjunction with -f.
43 -u Include the User Friendly Name form of the Distinguished Name
45 (DN) in the output.
46 -v Run in verbose mode, with many diagnostics written to standard
48 output.
49 -t[t] A single -t writes retrieved non-printable values to a set of
51 temporary files. This is useful for dealing with values con‐
52 taining non-character data such as jpegPhoto or audio. A second
53 -t writes all retrieved values to files.
54 -T path
56 Write temporary files to directory specified by path (default:
57 /var/tmp/)
58 -F prefix
60 URL prefix for temporary files. Default is file://path where
61 path is /var/tmp/ or specified with -T.
62 -A Retrieve attributes only (no values). This is useful when you
64 just want to see if an attribute is present in an entry and are
65 not interested in the specific values.
66 -L Search results are display in LDAP Data Interchange Format
68 detailed in ldif(5). A single -L restricts the output to
69 LDIFv1.
70 A second -L disables comments. A third -L disables printing of
71 the LDIF version. The default is to use an extended version of
72 LDIF.
73 -M[M] Enable manage DSA IT control. -MM makes control critical.
75 -S attribute
77 Sort the entries returned based on attribute. The default is not
78 to sort entries returned. If attribute is a zero-length string
79 (""), the entries are sorted by the components of their Distin‐
80 guished Name. See ldap_sort(3) for more details. Note that
81 ldapsearch normally prints out entries as it receives them. The
82 use of the -S option defeats this behavior, causing all entries
83 to be retrieved, then sorted, then printed.
84 -d debuglevel
86 Set the LDAP debugging level to debuglevel. ldapsearch must be
87 compiled with LDAP_DEBUG defined for this option to have any
88 effect.
89 -f file
91 Read a series of lines from file, performing one LDAP search for
92 each line. In this case, the filter given on the command line
93 is treated as a pattern where the first and only occurrence of
94 %s is replaced with a line from file. Any other occurrence of
95 the the % character in the pattern will be regarded as an error.
96 Where it is desired that the search filter include a % charac‐
97 ter, the character should be encoded as \25 (see RFC 4515). If
98 file is a single - character, then the lines are read from stan‐
99 dard input. ldapsearch will exit when the first non-successful
100 search result is returned, unless -c is used.
101 -x Use simple authentication instead of SASL.
103 -D binddn
105 Use the Distinguished Name binddn to bind to the LDAP directory.
106 For SASL binds, the server is expected to ignore this value.
107 -W Prompt for simple authentication. This is used instead of spec‐
109 ifying the password on the command line.
110 -w passwd
112 Use passwd as the password for simple authentication.
113 -y passwdfile
115 Use complete contents of passwdfile as the password for simple
116 authentication.
117 -H ldapuri
119 Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s); a list of URI,
120 separated by whitespace or commas is expected; only the proto‐
121 col/host/port fields are allowed. As an exception, if no
122 host/port is specified, but a DN is, the DN is used to look up
123 the corresponding host(s) using the DNS SRV records, according
124 to RFC 2782. The DN must be a non-empty sequence of AVAs whose
125 attribute type is "dc" (domain component), and must be escaped
126 according to RFC 2396.
127 -h ldaphost
129 Specify an alternate host on which the ldap server is running.
130 Deprecated in favor of -H.
131 -p ldapport
133 Specify an alternate TCP port where the ldap server is listen‐
134 ing. Deprecated in favor of -H.
135 -b searchbase
137 Use searchbase as the starting point for the search instead of
138 the default.
139 -s {base|one|sub|children}
141 Specify the scope of the search to be one of base, one, sub, or
142 children to specify a base object, one-level, subtree, or chil‐
143 dren search. The default is sub. Note: children scope requires
144 LDAPv3 subordinate feature extension.
145 -a {never|always|search|find}
147 Specify how aliases dereferencing is done. Should be one of
148 never, always, search, or find to specify that aliases are never
149 dereferenced, always dereferenced, dereferenced when searching,
150 or dereferenced only when locating the base object for the
151 search. The default is to never dereference aliases.
152 -P {2|3}
154 Specify the LDAP protocol version to use.
155 -e [!]ext[=extparam]
157 -E [!]ext[=extparam]
159 Specify general extensions with -e and search extensions with
161 -E. ´!´ indicates criticality.
162 General extensions:
164 [!]assert=<filter> (an RFC 4515 Filter)
165 [!]authzid=<authzid> ("dn:<dn>" or "u:<user>")
166 [!]manageDSAit
167 [!]noop
168 ppolicy
169 [!]postread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
170 [!]preread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
171 abandon, cancel (SIGINT sends abandon/cancel; not really controls)
172 Search extensions:
174 [!]domainScope (domain scope)
175 [!]mv=<filter> (matched values filter)
176 [!]pr=<size>[/prompt|noprompt] (paged results/prompt)
177 [!]sss=[-]<attr[:OID]>[/[-]<attr[:OID]>...] (server side sorting)
178 [!]subentries[=true|false] (subentries)
179 [!]sync=ro[/<cookie>] (LDAP Sync refreshOnly)
180 rp[/<cookie>][/<slimit>] (LDAP Sync refreshAndPersist)
181 [!]vlv=<before>/<after>(/<offset>/<count>|:<value>) (virtual list view)
182 -l timelimit
184 wait at most timelimit seconds for a search to complete. A
185 timelimit of 0 (zero) or none means no limit. A timelimit of
186 max means the maximum integer allowable by the protocol. A
187 server may impose a maximal timelimit which only the root user
188 may override.
189 -z sizelimit
191 retrieve at most sizelimit entries for a search. A sizelimit of
192 0 (zero) or none means no limit. A sizelimit of max means the
193 maximum integer allowable by the protocol. A server may impose
194 a maximal sizelimit which only the root user may override.
195 -O security-properties
197 Specify SASL security properties.
198 -I Enable SASL Interactive mode. Always prompt. Default is to
200 prompt only as needed.
201 -Q Enable SASL Quiet mode. Never prompt.
203 -U authcid
205 Specify the authentication ID for SASL bind. The form of the ID
206 depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
207 -R realm
209 Specify the realm of authentication ID for SASL bind. The form
210 of the realm depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
211 -X authzid
213 Specify the requested authorization ID for SASL bind. authzid
214 must be one of the following formats: dn:<distinguished name> or
215 u:<username>
216 -Y mech
218 Specify the SASL mechanism to be used for authentication. If
219 it's not specified, the program will choose the best mechanism
220 the server knows.
221 -Z[Z] Issue StartTLS (Transport Layer Security) extended operation. If
223 you use -ZZ, the command will require the operation to be suc‐
224 cessful.
225
227 If one or more entries are found, each entry is written to standard
228 output in LDAP Data Interchange Format or ldif(5):
229 version: 1
231 # bjensen, example, net
233 dn: uid=bjensen,dc=example,dc=net
234 objectClass: person
235 objectClass: dcObject
236 uid: bjensen
237 cn: Barbara Jensen
238 sn: Jensen
239 ...
240 If the -t option is used, the URI of a temporary file is used in place
242 of the actual value. If the -A option is given, only the "attribute‐
243 name" part is written.
244
246 The following command:
247 ldapsearch -LLL "(sn=smith)" cn sn telephoneNumber
249 will perform a subtree search (using the default search base and other
251 parameters defined in ldap.conf(5)) for entries with a surname (sn) of
252 smith. The common name (cn), surname (sn) and telephoneNumber values
253 will be retrieved and printed to standard output. The output might
254 look something like this if two entries are found:
255 dn: uid=jts,dc=example,dc=com
257 cn: John Smith
258 cn: John T. Smith
259 sn: Smith
260 sn;lang-en: Smith
261 sn;lang-de: Schmidt
262 telephoneNumber: 1 555 123-4567
263 dn: uid=sss,dc=example,dc=com
265 cn: Steve Smith
266 cn: Steve S. Smith
267 sn: Smith
268 sn;lang-en: Smith
269 sn;lang-de: Schmidt
270 telephoneNumber: 1 555 765-4321
271 The command:
273 ldapsearch -LLL -u -t "(uid=xyz)" jpegPhoto audio
275 will perform a subtree search using the default search base for entries
277 with user id of "xyz". The user friendly form of the entry's DN will
278 be output after the line that contains the DN itself, and the jpegPhoto
279 and audio values will be retrieved and written to temporary files. The
280 output might look like this if one entry with one value for each of the
281 requested attributes is found:
282 dn: uid=xyz,dc=example,dc=com
284 ufn: xyz, example, com
285 audio:< file:///tmp/ldapsearch-audio-a19924
286 jpegPhoto:< file:///tmp/ldapsearch-jpegPhoto-a19924
287 This command:
289 ldapsearch -LLL -s one -b "c=US" "(o=University*)" o description
291 will perform a one-level search at the c=US level for all entries whose
293 organization name (o) begins begins with University. The organization
294 name and description attribute values will be retrieved and printed to
295 standard output, resulting in output similar to this:
296 dn: o=University of Alaska Fairbanks,c=US
298 o: University of Alaska Fairbanks
299 description: Preparing Alaska for a brave new yesterday
300 description: leaf node only
301 dn: o=University of Colorado at Boulder,c=US
303 o: University of Colorado at Boulder
304 description: No personnel information
305 description: Institution of education and research
306 dn: o=University of Colorado at Denver,c=US
308 o: University of Colorado at Denver
309 o: UCD
310 o: CU/Denver
311 o: CU-Denver
312 description: Institute for Higher Learning and Research
313 dn: o=University of Florida,c=US
315 o: University of Florida
316 o: UFl
317 description: Warper of young minds
318 ...
320
322 Exit status is zero if no errors occur. Errors result in a non-zero
323 exit status and a diagnostic message being written to standard error.
324
326 ldapadd(1), ldapdelete(1), ldapmodify(1), ldapmodrdn(1), ldap.conf(5),
327 ldif(5), ldap(3), ldap_search_ext(3), ldap_sort(3)
328
330 The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>
331
333 OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project
334 <http://www.openldap.org/>. OpenLDAP Software is derived from Univer‐
335 sity of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.
336OpenLDAP 2.4.23 2010/06/30 LDAPSEARCH(1)