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.\" ========================================================================
.\"
.IX Title "NETCAT 1"
.TH NETCAT 1 "2004-01-11" "GNU Netcat 0.7.1" "Netcat"
.SH "NAME"
netcat \- GNU Netcat Manual
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
netcat [options] hostname port [port] ...
.PP
netcat \-l \-p port [options] [hostname] [port] ...
.PP
netcat \-L hostname:port \-p port [options] ...
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
Netcat is a simple Unix utility which reads and writes data across network
connections, using \s-1TCP\s0 or \s-1UDP\s0 protocol.
It is designed to be a reliable \*(L"back\-end\*(R" tool that can be used directly
or easily driven by other programs and scripts.  At the same time, it is
a feature-rich network debugging and exploration tool, since it can create
almost any kind of connection you would need and has several interesting
built-in capabilities.  Netcat, or \*(L"nc\*(R" as the original program was named,
should have been supplied long ago as another one of those cryptic but
standard Unix tools.
.PP
Netcat has three main modes of functionality.  These are the connect mode,
the listen mode, and the tunnel mode.
.PP
The most common mode is the connect mode, which for example allows the output
of a locally called command to be redirected for example to a remote netcat
listening or to any other kind of daemon waiting for a connection.
.PP
On the other hand, the listen mode can be used to obtain some kind of stream
of data from a remote site.
.PP
The most new feature is the tunnel mode, which is a powerful and reliable
mode that allows tunneling a remote site towards any other remote site,
allowing to specify for example from which interface create the connection
and from which port.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.IX Header "OPTIONS"
.Sh "Basic Startup Options"
.IX Subsection "Basic Startup Options"
.IP "\fB\-V\fR" 4
.IX Item "-V"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-version\fR" 4
.IX Item "--version"
.PD
Display the version of netcat and exit.
.IP "\fB\-h\fR" 4
.IX Item "-h"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-help\fR" 4
.IX Item "--help"
.PD
Print a help message describing most common netcat's command-line switches and
a short description.
.IP "\fB\-v\fR" 4
.IX Item "-v"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-verbose\fR" 4
.IX Item "--verbose"
.PD
Prints status messages, usually needed for using netcat as user front\-end.  All
messages are printed to stderr in order not to affect the data stream.
.Sp
Use this option double to get more messages.
.Sh "Protocol and Interface Options"
.IX Subsection "Protocol and Interface Options"
.IP "\fB\-t\fR" 4
.IX Item "-t"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-tcp\fR" 4
.IX Item "--tcp"
.PD
Selects the \s-1TCP\s0 protocol, this is the default.  It may be useful (see Tunnel Mode)
to specify this option after for example the \s-1UDP\s0 option in order to allow a
cross-protocol bridge between \s-1TCP\s0 and \s-1UDP\s0.
.IP "\fB\-u\fR" 4
.IX Item "-u"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-udp\fR" 4
.IX Item "--udp"
.PD
Selects the \s-1UDP\s0 protocol.  See the \-\-tcp option.
.IP "\fB\-p \s-1NUM\s0\fR" 4
.IX Item "-p NUM"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-local\-port=NUM\fR" 4
.IX Item "--local-port=NUM"
.PD
Selects the local port.  In listen and tunnel mode, it specifies which port
to use for listening, while in connect mode it specifies the source port (the
port from which originating the connection).
.Sp
If this option is not specified, the \s-1OS\s0 will assign a random available port.
.IP "\fB\-s \s-1ADDRESS\s0\fR" 4
.IX Item "-s ADDRESS"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-source=ADDRESS\fR" 4
.IX Item "--source=ADDRESS"
.PD
Specifies the source address used for creating sockets.  In listen mode and
tunnel mode this switch specifies the bound address, and it is generally a
good idea not to specify this, which causes netcat to bind to a generic
interface.
In the connect mode, this switch is used to specify the source address for
connecting to the outside world.  Again, if it's not specified a proper
address for the destination route will be used.
.IP "\fB\-P \s-1NUM\s0\fR" 4
.IX Item "-P NUM"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-tunnel\-port=NUM\fR" 4
.IX Item "--tunnel-port=NUM"
.PD
Same as \-\-port, but affects only the connect phase (thus this option has no
effect in listen mode).  This switch is useful in tunnel mode for specifying
the source port for the connecting socket.
.IP "\fB\-S \s-1ADDRESS\s0\fR" 4
.IX Item "-S ADDRESS"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-tunnel\-source=ADDRESS\fR" 4
.IX Item "--tunnel-source=ADDRESS"
.PD
Same as \-\-source, but affects only the connect phase (thus this has no effects
in listen mode).  This switch is useful in tunnel mode for specifying the
source address for the connecting socket.
.Sh "Advanced Options"
.IX Subsection "Advanced Options"
.IP "\fB\-i \s-1SECS\s0\fR" 4
.IX Item "-i SECS"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-interval \s-1SECS\s0\fR" 4
.IX Item "--interval SECS"
.PD
sets the buffering output delay time.  This affects all the current modes and
makes the connection sock to buffer outgoing data.  This means that in tunnel
mode everything received from the listening socket is buffered for the connect
socket.
.IP "\fB\-n\fR" 4
.IX Item "-n"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-dont\-resolve\fR" 4
.IX Item "--dont-resolve"
.PD
Don't do \s-1DNS\s0 lookups on any of the specified addresses or hostnames, or names
of port numbers from /etc/services.
.IP "\fB\-r\fR" 4
.IX Item "-r"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-randomize\fR" 4
.IX Item "--randomize"
.PD
Randomizes the target remote ports ranges.  If more than one range is
specified it will randomize the ports in the whole global range.
.IP "\fB\-w\fR" 4
.IX Item "-w"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-wait=SECS\fR" 4
.IX Item "--wait=SECS"
.PD
Specifies the starting inactivity delay after which netcat will exit with an
error status.  In connect mode and in tunnel mode this specifies the timeout for
the connecting socket, while in listen mode it specifies the time to wait for
a \s-1VALID\s0 incoming connection (see listen mode).
.IP "\fB\-T\fR" 4
.IX Item "-T"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-telnet\fR" 4
.IX Item "--telnet"
.PD
Answers the telnet codes as described in \s-1RFC0854\s0.  This makes possible to use
netcat to script telnet sessions.  The incoming telnet codes are parsed
inside the receiving queue and are stripped off before forwarding the data
as they were never received, so the application doesn't have to parse the
codes itself (this behaviour can be disabled at compile time with
\&\-\-enable\-oldtelnet or with \-\-enable\-compat).
.IP "\fB\-z\fR" 4
.IX Item "-z"
.PD 0
.IP "\fB\-\-zero\fR" 4
.IX Item "--zero"
.PD
Sets the zero I/O flag for the selected mode.  In connect mode it means that
as soon as the port is open it is immediately shutdown and closed.  This may
be useful for probing or scanning (even if there are faster portscanners
out there, but this may be useful for scripting purposes).
In listen mode, it makes netcat refusing all the incoming connections thus
running in timeout (if set), or waiting forever.
In both cases, no data is transfered.
.Sp
This option is incompatible with the tunnel mode.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
\&\s-1GNU\s0 Info entry for \fInetcat\fR.
.SH "AUTHOR"
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
Originally written by Giovanni Giacobbi <giovanni@giacobbi.net>.
.SH "COPYRIGHT"
.IX Header "COPYRIGHT"
Copyright (c) 2002 \- 2004  Giovanni Giacobbi
.PP
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
are preserved on all copies.
.PP
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the \s-1GNU\s0 Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
Invariant Sections being ``\s-1GNU\s0 General Public License'' and ``\s-1GNU\s0 Free
Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
Back-Cover Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section
entitled ``\s-1GNU\s0 Free Documentation License''.