ldapsearch(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | OUTPUT FORMAT | EXAMPLE | DIAGNOSTICS | SEE ALSO | AUTHOR | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | COLOPHON

LDAPSEARCH(1)            General Commands Manual           LDAPSEARCH(1)

NAME         top

       ldapsearch - LDAP search tool

SYNOPSIS         top

       ldapsearch [-V[V]] [-d debuglevel] [-n] [-v] [-c] [-u] [-t[t]]
       [-T path] [-F prefix] [-A] [-L[L[L]]] [-S attribute]
       [-b searchbase] [-s {base|one|sub|children}]
       [-a {never|always|search|find}] [-l timelimit] [-z sizelimit]
       [-f file] [-M[M]] [-x] [-D binddn] [-W] [-w passwd]
       [-y passwdfile] [-H ldapuri] [-P {2|3}] [-e [!]ext[=extparam]]
       [-E [!]ext[=extparam]] [-o opt[=optparam]] [-O security-
       properties] [-I] [-Q] [-N] [-U authcid] [-R realm] [-X authzid]
       [-Y mech] [-Z[Z]] filter [attrs...]

DESCRIPTION         top

       ldapsearch is a shell-accessible interface to the
       ldap_search_ext(3) library call.

       ldapsearch opens a connection to an LDAP server, binds, and
       performs a search using specified parameters.   The filter should
       conform to the string representation for search filters as
       defined in RFC 4515.  If not provided, the default filter,
       (objectClass=*), is used.

       If ldapsearch finds one or more entries, the attributes specified
       by attrs are returned.  If * is listed, all user attributes are
       returned.  If + is listed, all operational attributes are
       returned.  If no attrs are listed, all user attributes are
       returned.  If only 1.1 is listed, no attributes will be returned.

       The search results are displayed using an extended version of
       LDIF.  Option -L controls the format of the output.

OPTIONS         top

       -V[V]  Print version info.  If -VV is given, exit after providing
              version info. Otherwise proceed with the specified search

       -d debuglevel
              Set the LDAP debugging level to debuglevel.  ldapsearch
              must be compiled with LDAP_DEBUG defined for this option
              to have any effect.

       -n     Show what would be done, but don't actually perform the
              search.  Useful for debugging in conjunction with -v.

       -v     Run in verbose mode, with many diagnostics written to
              standard output.

       -c     Continuous operation mode. Errors are reported, but
              ldapsearch will continue with searches. The default is to
              exit after reporting an error.  Only useful in conjunction
              with -f.

       -u     Include the User Friendly Name form of the Distinguished
              Name (DN) in the output.

       -t[t]  A single -t writes retrieved non-printable values to a set
              of temporary files.  This is useful for dealing with
              values containing non-character data such as jpegPhoto or
              audio. A second -t writes all retrieved values to files.

       -T path
              Write temporary files to directory specified by path
              (default: system default tmp directory). The environment
              variables TMPDIR, TMP, or TEMP will override the default
              path.

       -F prefix
              URL prefix for temporary files.  Default is file://path
              where path is the system default tmp directory or the
              value specified with -T.

       -A     Retrieve attributes only (no values).  This is useful when
              you just want to see if an attribute is present in an
              entry and are not interested in the specific values.

       -L     Search results are display in LDAP Data Interchange Format
              detailed in ldif(5).  A single -L restricts the output to
              LDIFv1.
               A second -L disables comments.  A third -L disables
              printing of the LDIF version.  The default is to use an
              extended version of LDIF.

       -S attribute
              Sort the entries returned based on attribute. The default
              is not to sort entries returned.  If attribute is a zero-
              length string (""), the entries are sorted by the
              components of their Distinguished Name.  See ldap_sort(3)
              for more details. Note that ldapsearch normally prints out
              entries as it receives them. The use of the -S option
              defeats this behavior, causing all entries to be
              retrieved, then sorted, then printed.

       -b searchbase
              Use searchbase as the starting point for the search
              instead of the default.

       -s {base|one|sub|children}
              Specify the scope of the search to be one of base, one,
              sub, or children to specify a base object, one-level,
              subtree, or children search.  The default is sub.  Note:
              children scope requires LDAPv3 subordinate feature
              extension.

       -a {never|always|search|find}
              Specify how aliases dereferencing is done.  Should be one
              of never, always, search, or find to specify that aliases
              are never dereferenced, always dereferenced, dereferenced
              when searching, or dereferenced only when locating the
              base object for the search.  The default is to never
              dereference aliases.

       -l timelimit
              wait at most timelimit seconds for a search to complete.
              A timelimit of 0 (zero) or none means no limit.  A
              timelimit of max means the maximum integer allowable by
              the protocol.  A server may impose a maximal timelimit
              which only the root user may override.

       -z sizelimit
              retrieve at most sizelimit entries for a search.  A
              sizelimit of 0 (zero) or none means no limit.  A sizelimit
              of max means the maximum integer allowable by the
              protocol.  A server may impose a maximal sizelimit which
              only the root user may override.

       -f file
              Read a series of lines from file, performing one LDAP
              search for each line.  In this case, the filter given on
              the command line is treated as a pattern where the first
              and only occurrence of %s is replaced with a line from
              file.  Any other occurrence of the the % character in the
              pattern will be regarded as an error.  Where it is desired
              that the search filter include a % character, the
              character should be encoded as \25 (see RFC 4515).  If
              file is a single - character, then the lines are read from
              standard input.  ldapsearch will exit when the first non-
              successful search result is returned, unless -c is used.

       -M[M]  Enable manage DSA IT control.  -MM makes control critical.

       -x     Use simple authentication instead of SASL.

       -D binddn
              Use the Distinguished Name binddn to bind to the LDAP
              directory.  For SASL binds, the server is expected to
              ignore this value.

       -W     Prompt for simple authentication.  This is used instead of
              specifying the password on the command line.

       -w passwd
              Use passwd as the password for simple authentication.

       -y passwdfile
              Use complete contents of passwdfile as the password for
              simple authentication.

       -H ldapuri
              Specify URI(s) referring to the ldap server(s); a list of
              URI, separated by whitespace or commas is expected; only
              the protocol/host/port fields are allowed.  As an
              exception, if no host/port is specified, but a DN is, the
              DN is used to look up the corresponding host(s) using the
              DNS SRV records, according to RFC 2782.  The DN must be a
              non-empty sequence of AVAs whose attribute type is "dc"
              (domain component), and must be escaped according to RFC
              2396.

       -P {2|3}
              Specify the LDAP protocol version to use.

       -e [!]ext[=extparam]

       -E [!]ext[=extparam]

              Specify general extensions with -e and search extensions
              with -E.  ´!´ indicates criticality.

              General extensions:
                [!]assert=<filter>    (an RFC 4515 Filter)
                !authzid=<authzid>    ("dn:<dn>" or "u:<user>")
                [!]bauthzid           (RFC 3829 authzid control)
                [!]chaining[=<resolve>[/<cont>]]
                [!]manageDSAit
                [!]noop
                ppolicy
                [!]postread[=<attrs>] (a comma-separated attribute list)
                [!]preread[=<attrs>]  (a comma-separated attribute list)
                [!]relax
                sessiontracking[=<username>]
                abandon,cancel,ignore (SIGINT sends abandon/cancel,
                or ignores response; if critical, doesn't wait for SIGINT.
                not really controls)

              Search extensions:
                !dontUseCopy
                [!]domainScope                       (domain scope)
                [!]mv=<filter>                       (matched values filter)
                [!]pr=<size>[/prompt|noprompt]       (paged results/prompt)
                [!]sss=[-]<attr[:OID]>[/[-]<attr[:OID]>...]  (server side sorting)
                [!]subentries[=true|false]           (subentries)
                [!]sync=ro[/<cookie>]                (LDAP Sync refreshOnly)
                        rp[/<cookie>][/<slimit>]     (LDAP Sync refreshAndPersist)
                [!]vlv=<before>/<after>(/<offset>/<count>|:<value>)  (virtual list view)
                [!]deref=derefAttr:attr[,attr[...]][;derefAttr:attr[,attr[...]]]
                [!]<oid>[=:<value>|::<b64value>]

       -o opt[=optparam]

              Specify any ldap.conf(5) option or one of the following:
                nettimeout=<timeout>  (in seconds, or "none" or "max")
                ldif_wrap=<width>     (in columns, or "no" for no wrapping)

       -O security-properties
              Specify SASL security properties.

       -I     Enable SASL Interactive mode.  Always prompt.  Default is
              to prompt only as needed.

       -Q     Enable SASL Quiet mode.  Never prompt.

       -N     Do not use reverse DNS to canonicalize SASL host name.

       -U authcid
              Specify the authentication ID for SASL bind. The form of
              the ID depends on the actual SASL mechanism used.

       -R realm
              Specify the realm of authentication ID for SASL bind. The
              form of the realm depends on the actual SASL mechanism
              used.

       -X authzid
              Specify the requested authorization ID for SASL bind.
              authzid must be one of the following formats:
              dn:<distinguished name> or u:<username>

       -Y mech
              Specify the SASL mechanism to be used for authentication.
              If it's not specified, the program will choose the best
              mechanism the server knows.

       -Z[Z]  Issue StartTLS (Transport Layer Security) extended
              operation. If you use -ZZ, the command will require the
              operation to be successful.

OUTPUT FORMAT         top

       If one or more entries are found, each entry is written to
       standard output in LDAP Data Interchange Format or ldif(5):

           version: 1

           # bjensen, example, net
           dn: uid=bjensen,dc=example,dc=net
           objectClass: person
           objectClass: dcObject
           uid: bjensen
           cn: Barbara Jensen
           sn: Jensen
           ...

       If the -t option is used, the URI of a temporary file is used in
       place of the actual value.  If the -A option is given, only the
       "attributename" part is written.

EXAMPLE         top

       The following command:

           ldapsearch -LLL "(sn=smith)" cn sn telephoneNumber

       will perform a subtree search (using the default search base and
       other parameters defined in ldap.conf(5)) for entries with a
       surname (sn) of smith.  The common name (cn), surname (sn) and
       telephoneNumber values will be retrieved and printed to standard
       output.  The output might look something like this if two entries
       are found:

           dn: uid=jts,dc=example,dc=com
           cn: John Smith
           cn: John T. Smith
           sn: Smith
           sn;lang-en: Smith
           sn;lang-de: Schmidt
           telephoneNumber: 1 555 123-4567

           dn: uid=sss,dc=example,dc=com
           cn: Steve Smith
           cn: Steve S. Smith
           sn: Smith
           sn;lang-en: Smith
           sn;lang-de: Schmidt
           telephoneNumber: 1 555 765-4321

       The command:

           ldapsearch -LLL -u -t "(uid=xyz)" jpegPhoto audio

       will perform a subtree search using the default search base for
       entries with user id of "xyz".  The user friendly form of the
       entry's DN will be output after the line that contains the DN
       itself, and the jpegPhoto and audio values will be retrieved and
       written to temporary files.  The output might look like this if
       one entry with one value for each of the requested attributes is
       found:

           dn: uid=xyz,dc=example,dc=com
           ufn: xyz, example, com
           audio:< file:///tmp/ldapsearch-audio-a19924
           jpegPhoto:< file:///tmp/ldapsearch-jpegPhoto-a19924

       This command:

           ldapsearch -LLL -s one -b "c=US" "(o=University*)" o description

       will perform a one-level search at the c=US level for all entries
       whose organization name (o) begins with University.  The
       organization name and description attribute values will be
       retrieved and printed to standard output, resulting in output
       similar to this:

           dn: o=University of Alaska Fairbanks,c=US
           o: University of Alaska Fairbanks
           description: Naturally Inspiring
           description: leaf node only

           dn: o=University of Colorado at Boulder,c=US
           o: University of Colorado at Boulder
           description: No personnel information
           description: Institution of education and research

           dn: o=University of Colorado at Denver,c=US
           o: University of Colorado at Denver
           o: UCD
           o: CU/Denver
           o: CU-Denver
           description: Institute for Higher Learning and Research

           dn: o=University of Florida,c=US
           o: University of Florida
           o: UFl
           description: Warper of young minds

           ...

DIAGNOSTICS         top

       Exit status is zero if no errors occur.  Errors result in a non-
       zero exit status and a diagnostic message being written to
       standard error.

SEE ALSO         top

       ldapadd(1), ldapdelete(1), ldapmodify(1), ldapmodrdn(1),
       ldap.conf(5), ldif(5), ldap(3), ldap_search_ext(3), ldap_sort(3)

AUTHOR         top

       The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS         top

       OpenLDAP Software is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP
       Project <http://www.openldap.org/>.  OpenLDAP Software is derived
       from the University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release.

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the OpenLDAP (an open source implementation
       of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) project.
       Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://www.openldap.org/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this
       manual page, see ⟨http://www.openldap.org/its/⟩.  This page was
       obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://git.openldap.org/openldap/openldap.git⟩ on 2023-12-22.
       (At that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found
       in the repository was 2023-12-19.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

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Pages that refer to this page: ldapdelete(1)ldapmodify(1)ldapmodrdn(1)pmdads389(1)ldap.conf(5)ldif(5)slapo-valsort(5)