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Basic search

Basic search provides a simple way to find domains using any identifier. Iris Investigate automatically detects the data type and returns relevant results.

  1. Navigate to one of the following locations:
  2. DomainTools Research page: https://research.domaintools.com/
  3. Iris Investigate landing page: https://iris.domaintools.com/investigate/

  4. Search bar within the Iris Investigate application.

  5. Enter your search term in the search box.

  6. Press Enter or select the search button.

Supported search types

Iris Investigate automatically interprets your input:

Input Type Example Interpretation
Domain name domaintools.com Domain search
IP address 4.2.2.2 IP address search
De-fanged IP 4[.]2.2.2 IP address search
De-fanged domain example[.]tld Domain search
Email address admin@example.com Email search
Number 209242 Generic search (may match multiple field types)

De-fanged values

Iris Investigate accepts 'de-fanged' values for IP and host addresses. De-fanging is a security practice where users replace dots with brackets to prevent accidental clicks on malicious links.

Supported de-fanged formats:

  • example[.]tld → example.tld.
  • 4[.]2.2.2 → 4.2.2.2.

Guided search with shortcodes

For more precise searches, use shortcodes to specify the data type. This prevents ambiguous results when your search term could match multiple field types.

Use shortcodes

Use shortcodes when:

  • Your search term is ambiguous (for example, a number that could be an ASN, user account, or email).
  • You want to search a specific field type.
  • You're constructing URLs to link directly to searches.

Shortcode syntax

Format: shortcode:"value"

Example: ip.asn:"209242"

This searches specifically for ASN 209242, rather than the generic string "209242" which might match user accounts or email addresses.

Common shortcodes

Field Shortcode Example
Domain Name domain domain:"example.com"
IP Address ip.ip ip.ip:"4.2.2.2"
IP ASN ip.asn ip.asn:"209242"
Email em em:"admin@example.com"
Email Domain emd emd:"example.com"
Registrar reg reg:"GoDaddy"
Name Server ns.ns ns.ns:"ns1.example.com"

For a complete list of shortcodes, see Search Reference.

URL-based searches

You can construct URLs to link directly to searches:

Generic search: 

https://iris.domaintools.com/investigate/search/?q="209242"

Guided search with shortcode: 

https://iris.domaintools.com/investigate/search/?q=ip.asn:"209242"

For more details on URL construction, see URL Linking Reference.

Supported operators

Basic searches support simple operators in the search bar:

Operator Definition
: or = Equal
!= or <> Not equal
> Greater than
>= Greater than or equal to
< Less than
<= Less than or equal to

Example: ip.asn:>200000 finds domains on ASNs greater than 200000.

See also