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] [-P {2|3}]
14 [-e [!]ext[=extparam]] [-E [!]ext[=extparam]] [-o opt[=optparam]]
15 [-O security-properties] [-I] [-Q] [-N] [-U authcid] [-R realm] [-X au‐
16 thzid] [-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 ef‐
43 fect.
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 re‐
53 porting 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 system default tmp directory). The environment variables TMPDIR,
66 TMP, or TEMP will override the default path.
67 -F prefix
69 URL prefix for temporary files. Default is file://path where
70 path is the system default tmp directory or the value specified
71 with -T.
72 -A Retrieve attributes only (no values). This is useful when you
74 just want to see if an attribute is present in an entry and are
75 not interested in the specific values.
76 -L Search results are display in LDAP Data Interchange Format de‐
78 tailed in ldif(5). A single -L restricts the output to LDIFv1.
79 A second -L disables comments. A third -L disables printing of
80 the LDIF version. The default is to use an extended version of
81 LDIF.
82 -S attribute
84 Sort the entries returned based on attribute. The default is not
85 to sort entries returned. If attribute is a zero-length string
86 (""), the entries are sorted by the components of their Distin‐
87 guished Name. See ldap_sort(3) for more details. Note that
88 ldapsearch normally prints out entries as it receives them. The
89 use of the -S option defeats this behavior, causing all entries
90 to be retrieved, then sorted, then printed.
91 -b searchbase
93 Use searchbase as the starting point for the search instead of
94 the default.
95 -s {base|one|sub|children}
97 Specify the scope of the search to be one of base, one, sub, or
98 children to specify a base object, one-level, subtree, or chil‐
99 dren search. The default is sub. Note: children scope requires
100 LDAPv3 subordinate feature extension.
101 -a {never|always|search|find}
103 Specify how aliases dereferencing is done. Should be one of
104 never, always, search, or find to specify that aliases are never
105 dereferenced, always dereferenced, dereferenced when searching,
106 or dereferenced only when locating the base object for the
107 search. The default is to never dereference aliases.
108 -l timelimit
110 wait at most timelimit seconds for a search to complete. A
111 timelimit of 0 (zero) or none means no limit. A timelimit of
112 max means the maximum integer allowable by the protocol. A
113 server may impose a maximal timelimit which only the root user
114 may override.
115 -z sizelimit
117 retrieve at most sizelimit entries for a search. A sizelimit of
118 0 (zero) or none means no limit. A sizelimit of max means the
119 maximum integer allowable by the protocol. A server may impose
120 a maximal sizelimit which only the root user may override.
121 -f file
123 Read a series of lines from file, performing one LDAP search for
124 each line. In this case, the filter given on the command line
125 is treated as a pattern where the first and only occurrence of
126 %s is replaced with a line from file. Any other occurrence of
127 the the % character in the pattern will be regarded as an error.
128 Where it is desired that the search filter include a % charac‐
129 ter, the character should be encoded as \25 (see RFC 4515). If
130 file is a single - character, then the lines are read from stan‐
131 dard input. ldapsearch will exit when the first non-successful
132 search result is returned, unless -c is used.
133 -M[M] Enable manage DSA IT control. -MM makes control critical.
135 -x Use simple authentication instead of SASL.
137 -D binddn
139 Use the Distinguished Name binddn to bind to the LDAP directory.
140 For SASL binds, the server is expected to ignore this value.
141 -W Prompt for simple authentication. This is used instead of spec‐
143 ifying the password on the command line.
144 -w passwd
146 Use passwd as the password for simple authentication.
147 -y passwdfile
149 Use complete contents of passwdfile as the password for simple
150 authentication.
151 -H ldapuri
153 Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s); a list of URI,
154 separated by whitespace or commas is expected; only the proto‐
155 col/host/port fields are allowed. As an exception, if no
156 host/port is specified, but a DN is, the DN is used to look up
157 the corresponding host(s) using the DNS SRV records, according
158 to RFC 2782. The DN must be a non-empty sequence of AVAs whose
159 attribute type is "dc" (domain component), and must be escaped
160 according to RFC 2396.
161 -P {2|3}
163 Specify the LDAP protocol version to use.
164 -e [!]ext[=extparam]
166 -E [!]ext[=extparam]
168 Specify general extensions with -e and search extensions with
170 -E. ´!´ indicates criticality.
171 General extensions:
173 [!]assert=<filter> (an RFC 4515 Filter)
174 !authzid=<authzid> ("dn:<dn>" or "u:<user>")
175 [!]bauthzid (RFC 3829 authzid control)
176 [!]chaining[=<resolve>[/<cont>]]
177 [!]manageDSAit
178 [!]noop
179 ppolicy
180 [!]postread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
181 [!]preread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
182 [!]relax
183 sessiontracking[=<username>]
184 abandon,cancel,ignore (SIGINT sends abandon/cancel,
185 or ignores response; if critical, doesn't wait for SIGINT.
186 not really controls)
187 Search extensions:
189 !dontUseCopy
190 [!]domainScope (domain scope)
191 [!]mv=<filter> (matched values filter)
192 [!]pr=<size>[/prompt|noprompt] (paged results/prompt)
193 [!]sss=[-]<attr[:OID]>[/[-]<attr[:OID]>...] (server side sorting)
194 [!]subentries[=true|false] (subentries)
195 [!]sync=ro[/<cookie>] (LDAP Sync refreshOnly)
196 rp[/<cookie>][/<slimit>] (LDAP Sync refreshAndPersist)
197 [!]vlv=<before>/<after>(/<offset>/<count>|:<value>) (virtual list view)
198 [!]deref=derefAttr:attr[,attr[...]][;derefAttr:attr[,attr[...]]]
199 [!]<oid>[=:<value>|::<b64value>]
200 -o opt[=optparam]
202 Specify any ldap.conf(5) option or one of the following:
204 nettimeout=<timeout> (in seconds, or "none" or "max")
205 ldif_wrap=<width> (in columns, or "no" for no wrapping)
206 -O security-properties
209 Specify SASL security properties.
210 -I Enable SASL Interactive mode. Always prompt. Default is to
212 prompt only as needed.
213 -Q Enable SASL Quiet mode. Never prompt.
215 -N Do not use reverse DNS to canonicalize SASL host name.
217 -U authcid
219 Specify the authentication ID for SASL bind. The form of the ID
220 depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
221 -R realm
223 Specify the realm of authentication ID for SASL bind. The form
224 of the realm depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.
225 -X authzid
227 Specify the requested authorization ID for SASL bind. authzid
228 must be one of the following formats: dn:<distinguished name> or
229 u:<username>
230 -Y mech
232 Specify the SASL mechanism to be used for authentication. If
233 it's not specified, the program will choose the best mechanism
234 the server knows.
235 -Z[Z] Issue StartTLS (Transport Layer Security) extended operation. If
237 you use -ZZ, the command will require the operation to be suc‐
238 cessful.
239
241 If one or more entries are found, each entry is written to standard
242 output in LDAP Data Interchange Format or ldif(5):
243 version: 1
245 # bjensen, example, net
247 dn: uid=bjensen,dc=example,dc=net
248 objectClass: person
249 objectClass: dcObject
250 uid: bjensen
251 cn: Barbara Jensen
252 sn: Jensen
253 ...
254 If the -t option is used, the URI of a temporary file is used in place
256 of the actual value. If the -A option is given, only the "attribute‐
257 name" part is written.
258
260 The following command:
261 ldapsearch -LLL "(sn=smith)" cn sn telephoneNumber
263 will perform a subtree search (using the default search base and other
265 parameters defined in ldap.conf(5)) for entries with a surname (sn) of
266 smith. The common name (cn), surname (sn) and telephoneNumber values
267 will be retrieved and printed to standard output. The output might
268 look something like this if two entries are found:
269 dn: uid=jts,dc=example,dc=com
271 cn: John Smith
272 cn: John T. Smith
273 sn: Smith
274 sn;lang-en: Smith
275 sn;lang-de: Schmidt
276 telephoneNumber: 1 555 123-4567
277 dn: uid=sss,dc=example,dc=com
279 cn: Steve Smith
280 cn: Steve S. Smith
281 sn: Smith
282 sn;lang-en: Smith
283 sn;lang-de: Schmidt
284 telephoneNumber: 1 555 765-4321
285 The command:
287 ldapsearch -LLL -u -t "(uid=xyz)" jpegPhoto audio
289 will perform a subtree search using the default search base for entries
291 with user id of "xyz". The user friendly form of the entry's DN will
292 be output after the line that contains the DN itself, and the jpegPhoto
293 and audio values will be retrieved and written to temporary files. The
294 output might look like this if one entry with one value for each of the
295 requested attributes is found:
296 dn: uid=xyz,dc=example,dc=com
298 ufn: xyz, example, com
299 audio:< file:///tmp/ldapsearch-audio-a19924
300 jpegPhoto:< file:///tmp/ldapsearch-jpegPhoto-a19924
301 This command:
303 ldapsearch -LLL -s one -b "c=US" "(o=University*)" o description
305 will perform a one-level search at the c=US level for all entries whose
307 organization name (o) begins with University. The organization name
308 and description attribute values will be retrieved and printed to stan‐
309 dard output, resulting in output similar to this:
310 dn: o=University of Alaska Fairbanks,c=US
312 o: University of Alaska Fairbanks
313 description: Naturally Inspiring
314 description: leaf node only
315 dn: o=University of Colorado at Boulder,c=US
317 o: University of Colorado at Boulder
318 description: No personnel information
319 description: Institution of education and research
320 dn: o=University of Colorado at Denver,c=US
322 o: University of Colorado at Denver
323 o: UCD
324 o: CU/Denver
325 o: CU-Denver
326 description: Institute for Higher Learning and Research
327 dn: o=University of Florida,c=US
329 o: University of Florida
330 o: UFl
331 description: Warper of young minds
332 ...
334
336 Exit status is zero if no errors occur. Errors result in a non-zero
337 exit status and a diagnostic message being written to standard error.
338
340 ldapadd(1), ldapdelete(1), ldapmodify(1), ldapmodrdn(1), ldap.conf(5),
341 ldif(5), ldap(3), ldap_search_ext(3), ldap_sort(3)
342
344 The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>
345
347 OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project
348 <http://www.openldap.org/>. OpenLDAP Software is derived from the Uni‐
349 versity of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.
350OpenLDAP 2.6.6 2023/07/31 LDAPSEARCH(1)