Display `NXDOMAIN` when querying such a domain instead of nothing

[Gunni]

For example:

$ q <non-existing-hostname>.com
<non-existing-hostname>.com NXDOMAIN returned by com. by authority of a.gtld-servers.net.
$

NXDOMAIN could be red?

Current output `q` vs `dig`

$ q <non-existing-hostname>.com
$

vs

$ dig <non-existing-hostname>.com

; <<>> DiG 9.18.41 <<>> <hostname>.com
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 43575
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 65494
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;<non-existing-hostname>.com.   IN      A

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
com.                    437     IN      SOA     a.gtld-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 1772019251 1800 900 604800 900

;; Query time: 3 msec
;; SERVER: 127.0.0.53#53(127.0.0.53) (UDP)
;; WHEN: Wed Feb 25 11:42:31 UTC 2026
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 113

[polarathene]

The default output from q is expected to be valid responses, not failures to resolve?

Perhaps setting a shell alias to append the additional arg/option like shown below works for you?

---

q formats and visibility of NXDOMAIN

You can get this sort of information by explicitly requesting --stats:

# No output (expected):
$ q --format pretty A non-existent.test

# Zero exit status code (expected, despite empty result returned):
$ echo $?
0

# Requesting statistics includes status:
$ q --stats --format pretty A non-existent.test
Stats:
Received 121 B from 127.0.0.53:53 in 229.9ms (17:07:36 05-20-2026 NZST)
Opcode: QUERY Status: NXDOMAIN ID 26633: Flags: qr rd ra (1 Q 0 A 1 N 1 E)

Column format is understandably not supported:

# No output (expected):
$ q --format column A non-existent.test

# Requesting statistics is not valid for this format mode (option ignored):
$ q --stats --format column A non-existent.test

For YAML / JSON outputs the path is slightly inconsistent, but it is there (an rcode of 3 is equivalent to NXDOMAIN) while output is effectively --all (--stats and others cannot be used to filter the output returned):

$ q --format yaml A non-existent.test | yq .[].replies[].msghdr.rcode
3

$ q --format json A non-existent.test | jq .[].replies[].rcode
3

---

Compared to doggo and dig

For reference doggo is worse:

$ doggo A non-existent.test
time=2026-05-20T17:14:16.496+12:00 level=ERROR msg="error in lookup" error="dns: bad rdata"
NAME  TYPE  CLASS  TTL  ADDRESS  NAMESERVER

$ echo $?
0

$ doggo --json A non-existent.test
time=2026-05-20T17:15:26.445+12:00 level=ERROR msg="error in lookup" error="dns: bad rdata"
{}

EDIT: dns: bad rdata in this case is a bug in doggo.

I recently did a UX bug report at doggo, and noticed the output is more aligned with what @Gunni is requesting:

$ doggo @1.1.1.1 A non-existent.test

NAME  TYPE  CLASS  TTL     ADDRESS                     NAMESERVER  STATUS
.     SOA   IN     86069s  a.root-servers.net.         1.1.1.1:53  NXDOMAIN
                           nstld.verisign-grs.com.
                           2026051901 1800 900 604800
                           86400

# As opposed to a valid one:
$ doggo @1.1.1.1 A github.com
NAME         TYPE  CLASS  TTL  ADDRESS      NAMESERVER
github.com.  A     IN     19s  4.237.22.38  1.1.1.1:53

---

Compared to dig, q defaults to output that's more terse. For example you can get a similar experience with with dig +short A non-existent.test (empty output).

q also has it's dig output mode:

$ q --format raw A non-existent.test

;; opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 448
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version 0; flags:; udp: 65494

UX of empty output

I can understand how it might be less obvious about the NXDOMAIN status surfacing when using q, or similar for troubleshooting when you get an unexpected empty response from q, potentially reaching out to --verbose:

$ q --verbose A non-existent.test

DEBU Name: non-existent.test
DEBU RR types: [A]
DEBU No server specified or Q_DEFAULT_SERVER set, using /etc/resolv.conf
DEBU found server [127.0.0.53] from /etc/resolv.conf
DEBU Server(s): [127.0.0.53]
DEBU Using server 127.0.0.53:53 with transport plain
DEBU Using UDP with TCP fallback: 127.0.0.53:53

Instead try --all in those scenarios:

$ q --all A non-existent.test

Question:
non-existent.test. A
Authority:
. 23h41m10s SOA a.root-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 2026051901 1800 900 604800 86400
Additional:
. 0s OPT ;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version 0; flags:; udp: 65494
Stats:
Received 121 B from 127.0.0.53:53 in 26.9ms (17:31:29 05-20-2026 NZST)
Opcode: QUERY Status: NXDOMAIN ID 7794: Flags: qr rd ra (1 Q 0 A 1 N 1 E)

That said, I can understand wanting a better UX in this scenario. Those that need to parse the results returned would typically do so through the JSON/YAML formats anyway and would not be impacted 👍

[FaffeF]

I came here to look for this setting, as I find it unsettling that there is zero output when the domain isn't found.

I would appreciate something like "INFO Status: NXDOMAIN", that generates just that, but not the full output of --verbose or --all