1LDAPSEARCH(1) General Commands Manual LDAPSEARCH(1)
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6 ldapsearch - LDAP search tool
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9 ldapsearch [-V[V]] [-d debuglevel] [-n] [-v] [-c] [-u] [-t[t]]
10 [-T path] [-F prefix] [-A] [-L[L[L]]] [-S attribute] [-b searchbase]
11 [-s {base|one|sub|children}] [-a {never|always|search|find}] [-l time‐
12 limit] [-z sizelimit] [-f file] [-M[M]] [-x] [-D binddn] [-W]
13 [-w passwd] [-y passwdfile] [-H ldapuri] [-h ldaphost] [-p ldapport]
14 [-P {2|3}] [-e [!]ext[=extparam]] [-E [!]ext[=extparam]] [-o opt[=opt‐
15 param]] [-O security-properties] [-I] [-Q] [-N] [-U authcid] [-R realm]
16 [-X authzid] [-Y mech] [-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 -V[V] Print version info. If -VV is given, exit after providing ver‐
38 sion info. Otherwise proceed with the specified search
39 -d debuglevel
41 Set the LDAP debugging level to debuglevel. ldapsearch must be
42 compiled with LDAP_DEBUG defined for this option to have any
43 effect.
44 -n Show what would be done, but don't actually perform the search.
46 Useful for debugging in conjunction with -v.
47 -v Run in verbose mode, with many diagnostics written to standard
49 output.
50 -c Continuous operation mode. Errors are reported, but ldapsearch
52 will continue with searches. The default is to exit after
53 reporting an error. Only useful in conjunction with -f.
54 -u Include the User Friendly Name form of the Distinguished Name
56 (DN) in the output.
57 -t[t] A single -t writes retrieved non-printable values to a set of
59 temporary files. This is useful for dealing with values con‐
60 taining non-character data such as jpegPhoto or audio. A second
61 -t writes all retrieved values to files.
62 -T path
64 Write temporary files to directory specified by path (default:
65 /var/tmp/)
66 -F prefix
68 URL prefix for temporary files. Default is file://path where
69 path is /var/tmp/ or specified with -T.
70 -A Retrieve attributes only (no values). This is useful when you
72 just want to see if an attribute is present in an entry and are
73 not interested in the specific values.
74 -L Search results are display in LDAP Data Interchange Format
76 detailed in ldif(5). A single -L restricts the output to
77 LDIFv1.
78 A second -L disables comments. A third -L disables printing of
79 the LDIF version. The default is to use an extended version of
80 LDIF.
81 -S attribute
83 Sort the entries returned based on attribute. The default is not
84 to sort entries returned. If attribute is a zero-length string
85 (""), the entries are sorted by the components of their Distin‐
86 guished Name. See ldap_sort(3) for more details. Note that
87 ldapsearch normally prints out entries as it receives them. The
88 use of the -S option defeats this behavior, causing all entries
89 to be retrieved, then sorted, then printed.
90 -b searchbase
92 Use searchbase as the starting point for the search instead of
93 the default.
94 -s {base|one|sub|children}
96 Specify the scope of the search to be one of base, one, sub, or
97 children to specify a base object, one-level, subtree, or chil‐
98 dren search. The default is sub. Note: children scope requires
99 LDAPv3 subordinate feature extension.
100 -a {never|always|search|find}
102 Specify how aliases dereferencing is done. Should be one of
103 never, always, search, or find to specify that aliases are never
104 dereferenced, always dereferenced, dereferenced when searching,
105 or dereferenced only when locating the base object for the
106 search. The default is to never dereference aliases.
107 -l timelimit
109 wait at most timelimit seconds for a search to complete. A
110 timelimit of 0 (zero) or none means no limit. A timelimit of
111 max means the maximum integer allowable by the protocol. A
112 server may impose a maximal timelimit which only the root user
113 may override.
114 -z sizelimit
116 retrieve at most sizelimit entries for a search. A sizelimit of
117 0 (zero) or none means no limit. A sizelimit of max means the
118 maximum integer allowable by the protocol. A server may impose
119 a maximal sizelimit which only the root user may override.
120 -f file
122 Read a series of lines from file, performing one LDAP search for
123 each line. In this case, the filter given on the command line
124 is treated as a pattern where the first and only occurrence of
125 %s is replaced with a line from file. Any other occurrence of
126 the the % character in the pattern will be regarded as an error.
127 Where it is desired that the search filter include a % charac‐
128 ter, the character should be encoded as \25 (see RFC 4515). If
129 file is a single - character, then the lines are read from stan‐
130 dard input. ldapsearch will exit when the first non-successful
131 search result is returned, unless -c is used.
132 -M[M] Enable manage DSA IT control. -MM makes control critical.
134 -x Use simple authentication instead of SASL.
136 -D binddn
138 Use the Distinguished Name binddn to bind to the LDAP directory.
139 For SASL binds, the server is expected to ignore this value.
140 -W Prompt for simple authentication. This is used instead of spec‐
142 ifying the password on the command line.
143 -w passwd
145 Use passwd as the password for simple authentication.
146 -y passwdfile
148 Use complete contents of passwdfile as the password for simple
149 authentication.
150 -H ldapuri
152 Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s); a list of URI,
153 separated by whitespace or commas is expected; only the proto‐
154 col/host/port fields are allowed. As an exception, if no
155 host/port is specified, but a DN is, the DN is used to look up
156 the corresponding host(s) using the DNS SRV records, according
157 to RFC 2782. The DN must be a non-empty sequence of AVAs whose
158 attribute type is "dc" (domain component), and must be escaped
159 according to RFC 2396.
160 -h ldaphost
162 Specify an alternate host on which the ldap server is running.
163 Deprecated in favor of -H.
164 -p ldapport
166 Specify an alternate TCP port where the ldap server is listen‐
167 ing. Deprecated in favor of -H.
168 -P {2|3}
170 Specify the LDAP protocol version to use.
171 -e [!]ext[=extparam]
173 -E [!]ext[=extparam]
175 Specify general extensions with -e and search extensions with
177 -E. ´!´ indicates criticality.
178 General extensions:
180 [!]assert=<filter> (an RFC 4515 Filter)
181 !authzid=<authzid> ("dn:<dn>" or "u:<user>")
182 [!]bauthzid (RFC 3829 authzid control)
183 [!]chaining[=<resolve>[/<cont>]]
184 [!]manageDSAit
185 [!]noop
186 ppolicy
187 [!]postread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
188 [!]preread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
189 [!]relax
190 sessiontracking
191 abandon,cancel,ignore (SIGINT sends abandon/cancel,
192 or ignores response; if critical, doesn't wait for SIGINT.
193 not really controls)
194 Search extensions:
196 !dontUseCopy
197 [!]domainScope (domain scope)
198 [!]mv=<filter> (matched values filter)
199 [!]pr=<size>[/prompt|noprompt] (paged results/prompt)
200 [!]sss=[-]<attr[:OID]>[/[-]<attr[:OID]>...] (server side sorting)
201 [!]subentries[=true|false] (subentries)
202 [!]sync=ro[/<cookie>] (LDAP Sync refreshOnly)
203 rp[/<cookie>][/<slimit>] (LDAP Sync refreshAndPersist)
204 [!]vlv=<before>/<after>(/<offset>/<count>|:<value>) (virtual list view)
205 [!]deref=derefAttr:attr[,attr[...]][;derefAttr:attr[,attr[...]]]
206 [!]<oid>[=<value>]
207 -o opt[=optparam]
209 Specify general options.
211 General options:
213 nettimeout=<timeout> (in seconds, or "none" or "max")
214 ldif-wrap=<width> (in columns, or "no" for no wrapping)
215 -O security-properties
217 Specify SASL security properties.
218 -I Enable SASL Interactive mode. Always prompt. Default is to
220 prompt only as needed.
221 -Q Enable SASL Quiet mode. Never prompt.
223 -N Do not use reverse DNS to canonicalize SASL host name.
225 -U authcid
227 Specify the authentication ID for SASL bind. The form of the ID
228 depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
229 -R realm
231 Specify the realm of authentication ID for SASL bind. The form
232 of the realm depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
233 -X authzid
235 Specify the requested authorization ID for SASL bind. authzid
236 must be one of the following formats: dn:<distinguished name> or
237 u:<username>
238 -Y mech
240 Specify the SASL mechanism to be used for authentication. If
241 it's not specified, the program will choose the best mechanism
242 the server knows.
243 -Z[Z] Issue StartTLS (Transport Layer Security) extended operation. If
245 you use -ZZ, the command will require the operation to be suc‐
246 cessful.
247
249 If one or more entries are found, each entry is written to standard
250 output in LDAP Data Interchange Format or ldif(5):
251 version: 1
253 # bjensen, example, net
255 dn: uid=bjensen,dc=example,dc=net
256 objectClass: person
257 objectClass: dcObject
258 uid: bjensen
259 cn: Barbara Jensen
260 sn: Jensen
261 ...
262 If the -t option is used, the URI of a temporary file is used in place
264 of the actual value. If the -A option is given, only the "attribute‐
265 name" part is written.
266
268 The following command:
269 ldapsearch -LLL "(sn=smith)" cn sn telephoneNumber
271 will perform a subtree search (using the default search base and other
273 parameters defined in ldap.conf(5)) for entries with a surname (sn) of
274 smith. The common name (cn), surname (sn) and telephoneNumber values
275 will be retrieved and printed to standard output. The output might
276 look something like this if two entries are found:
277 dn: uid=jts,dc=example,dc=com
279 cn: John Smith
280 cn: John T. Smith
281 sn: Smith
282 sn;lang-en: Smith
283 sn;lang-de: Schmidt
284 telephoneNumber: 1 555 123-4567
285 dn: uid=sss,dc=example,dc=com
287 cn: Steve Smith
288 cn: Steve S. Smith
289 sn: Smith
290 sn;lang-en: Smith
291 sn;lang-de: Schmidt
292 telephoneNumber: 1 555 765-4321
293 The command:
295 ldapsearch -LLL -u -t "(uid=xyz)" jpegPhoto audio
297 will perform a subtree search using the default search base for entries
299 with user id of "xyz". The user friendly form of the entry's DN will
300 be output after the line that contains the DN itself, and the jpegPhoto
301 and audio values will be retrieved and written to temporary files. The
302 output might look like this if one entry with one value for each of the
303 requested attributes is found:
304 dn: uid=xyz,dc=example,dc=com
306 ufn: xyz, example, com
307 audio:< file:///tmp/ldapsearch-audio-a19924
308 jpegPhoto:< file:///tmp/ldapsearch-jpegPhoto-a19924
309 This command:
311 ldapsearch -LLL -s one -b "c=US" "(o=University*)" o description
313 will perform a one-level search at the c=US level for all entries whose
315 organization name (o) begins with University. The organization name
316 and description attribute values will be retrieved and printed to stan‐
317 dard output, resulting in output similar to this:
318 dn: o=University of Alaska Fairbanks,c=US
320 o: University of Alaska Fairbanks
321 description: Preparing Alaska for a brave new yesterday
322 description: leaf node only
323 dn: o=University of Colorado at Boulder,c=US
325 o: University of Colorado at Boulder
326 description: No personnel information
327 description: Institution of education and research
328 dn: o=University of Colorado at Denver,c=US
330 o: University of Colorado at Denver
331 o: UCD
332 o: CU/Denver
333 o: CU-Denver
334 description: Institute for Higher Learning and Research
335 dn: o=University of Florida,c=US
337 o: University of Florida
338 o: UFl
339 description: Warper of young minds
340 ...
342
344 Exit status is zero if no errors occur. Errors result in a non-zero
345 exit status and a diagnostic message being written to standard error.
346
348 ldapadd(1), ldapdelete(1), ldapmodify(1), ldapmodrdn(1), ldap.conf(5),
349 ldif(5), ldap(3), ldap_search_ext(3), ldap_sort(3)
350
352 The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>
353
355 OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project
356 <http://www.openldap.org/>. OpenLDAP Software is derived from the Uni‐
357 versity of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.
358OpenLDAP 2.4.50 2020/04/28 LDAPSEARCH(1)