uniform and same result whois command line

I am looking for a free whois lookup tool or some "scripting help" that will give uniform result for whois lookup from the linux command line.

Currently:
whois of a .co.nz domain results nameserver as follows.

ns_name_01: ns1.domain.co.nz

ns_name_02: ns2.domain.co.nz

While that of a .net domain result as follows

DNS Servers:
      ns1.domain.net
      ns2.domain.net

And that of .com results in

Domain servers in listed order:
    ns1.domain.com
    ns2.domain.com

I need a uniform result for the whois nameserver records.
Example: All in the following format:

Nameserver: ns1.domain.tld
Nameserver: ns2.domain.tld

Can anyone help?

I tried whois domain.com@whois.tucows.com, But after few lookups, it result in the error

Maximum Daily connection limit reached. Lookup refused.

---------- Post updated 09-12-11 at 03:49 PM ---------- Previous update was 09-11-11 at 08:28 PM ----------

Can anyone help?

You can use "nslookup -qt=any some_domain" to get the domain level information for any domain.

However, going above the individual domain level just gets you the root name servers of that area of DNS, which are more bland. Also, it is common good practice to use your isp for root name servers, so you do not have to worry about them changing -- they do, and your name servers cache the answers. This can confuse the issue further.

I get the following error:

# nslookup -qt=any domain.com
*** Invalid option: qt=any

The man here says querytype=value

nslookup versions vary a lot! I recall using debug level 2 was interesting, as it shows the flow

Using KLOTH.NET (as I am behind firewalls):

 here is the nslookup result for unix.com from server localhost, querytype=ANY :
 
DNS server handling your query: localhost
DNS server's address:    127.0.0.1#53
 
Non-authoritative answer:
unix.com
    mail exchanger = 1 ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. unix.com
    mail exchanger = 5 ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. unix.com
    mail exchanger = 5 ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.com. unix.com
    mail exchanger = 10 ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.com. unix.com
    mail exchanger = 10 ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.com. unix.com
    mail exchanger = 10 ASPMX4.GOOGLEMAIL.com. unix.com
    mail exchanger = 10 ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.com. unix.com
     origin = ns1.linode.com
     mail addr = webmaster.unix.com
     serial = 2011020734
     refresh = 7200
     retry = 3600
     expire = 604800
     minimum = 3600
 Name:    unix.com
 Address: 81.17.242.186 unix.com
    nameserver = ns1.linode.com. unix.com
    nameserver = ns2.linode.com. unix.com
    nameserver = ns3.linode.com. unix.com
    nameserver = ns4.linode.com. unix.com
    nameserver = ns5.linode.com.
  Authoritative answers can be found from:

Most of the goodies you want are in SOA:

... here is the nslookup result for unix.com from server localhost, querytype=SOA : 
 DNS server handling your query: localhost
 DNS server's address:    127.0.0.1#53
  Non-authoritative answer:
 unix.com
     origin = ns1.linode.com
     mail addr = webmaster.unix.com
     serial = 2011020734
     refresh = 7200
     retry = 3600
     expire = 604800
     minimum = 3600
  Authoritative answers can be found from: 
  [ Query 2 of max 100 ]
NSLOOKUP is a service to look up information in the DNS (Domain Name System [RFC1034, RFC1035, RFC1033]). The NSLOOKUP utility is a unix tool. If you want to learn more, here is the nslookup manual (man page).
Basically, DNS maps domain names to IP addresses.
Although this web online service can query a specific DNS server, in most cases it may be sufficient and convenient just to use the KLOTH.NET default nameserver "ns.kloth.net" or "localhost"/127.0.0.1.
To resolve an IP address by reverse lookup (get a computer's name if you only have its IP address), try to perform a PTR query instead of ANY. This reverse lookup will only work if the IP address owner has inserted a PTR record in the DNS. The PTR information is informal only and it may mostly be true, but sometimes not. If you don't get a PTR information about a specific computer from a NSLOOKUP query, you may want to try our whois service to find out the owner of this IP address.
Like the PTR, other records are also not mandatory: LOC, RP, TXT. They are not strictly required in the DNS and their content may be true or not.
You can't trust on the LOC to locate a host, because most hosts don't have this record defined. 
 
If you prefer dig over nslookup, you may try our dig service.

The below gives the nameserver details from the zone file. I need the nameservers registered for a domain at the registrar. Should be able to get from command line. The value in the zone file can be anything.

nslookup -querytype=ns domain.com

Change the query type from 'ns' to 'any' or 'soa' for domain information. You can direct your query to the parent domain name server, if you want to verify the authority of the response. Just add it to the right end of the nslookup command.

If you do not trust the tools, you can send your own udp packets, no recursion, and walk it down the tree.