? [command] help [command] A ‘?’  by itself will print a list of all the commands known to ntpq.  A ‘?’  followed by a command name will print function and usage information about the command. addvars name[=value][,...] rmvars name[,...] clearvars showvars       The arguments to this command consist of a list of items of the form name[=value], where the =value is ignored, and can be omitted, in requests to the server to read variables.  The ntpq utility maintains an internal list in which data to be included in messages can be assembled, and displayed or set using the readlist and writelist commands described below.  The addvars command allows variables and their optional values to be added to the list.  If more than one variable is to be added, the list should be comma-separated and not contain white space. The rmvars command can be used to remove individual variables from the list, while the clearvars command removes all variables from the list.  The showvars command displays the current list of optional variables. authenticate [yes|no] Normally ntpq does not authenticate requests unless they are write requests.  The command authenticate yes causes ntpq to send authentication with all requests it makes. Authenticated requests causes some servers to handle requests slightly differently.  The command authenticate causes ntpq to display whether or not it is currently authenticating requests. cooked         Causes output from query commands to be "cooked", so that variables which are recognized by ntpq will have their values reformatted for human consumption.  Variables which ntpq could not decode completely are marked with a trailing ‘?’. debug [more|less|off] With no argument, displays the current debug level. Otherwise, the debugging level is changed as indicated. delay [milliseconds] Specify a time interval to be added to timestamps included in requests which require authentication.  This is used to enable (unreliable) server reconfiguration over long delay network paths or between machines whose clocks are unsynchronized.  Actually the server does not now require timestamps in authenticated requests, so this command may be obsolete.  Without any arguments, displays the current delay. drefid [hash|ipv4] Display refids as IPv4 or hash.  Without any arguments, displays whether refids are shown as IPv4 addresses or hashes. exit           Exit ntpq. host [name]    Set the host to which future queries will be sent.  The name may be either a host name or a numeric address. Without any arguments, displays the current host. hostnames [yes|no] If yes is specified, host names are printed in information displays.  If no is specified, numeric addresses are printed instead.  The default is yes, unless modified using the command line -n switch.  Without any arguments, displays whether host names or numeric addresses are shown. keyid [keyid]  This command allows the specification of a key number to be used to authenticate configuration requests.  This must correspond to the controlkey key number the server has been configured to use for this purpose.  Without any arguments, displays the current keyid. keytype [digest] Specify the digest algorithm to use for authenticating requests, with default MD5.  If ntpq was built with OpenSSL support, and OpenSSL is installed, digest can be any message digest algorithm supported by OpenSSL.  If no argument is given, the current keytype digest algorithm used is displayed. ntpversion [1|2|3|4] Sets the NTP version number which ntpq claims in packets. Defaults to 3, and note that mode 6 control messages (and modes, for that matter) didn't exist in NTP version 1. There appear to be no servers left which demand version 1. With no argument, displays the current NTP version that will be used when communicating with servers. passwd         This command prompts you to type in a password (which will not be echoed) which will be used to authenticate configuration requests.  The password must correspond to the key configured for use by the NTP server for this purpose if such requests are to be successful. poll [n] [verbose] Poll an NTP server in client mode n times.  Poll not implemented yet. quit           Exit ntpq. raw            Causes all output from query commands is printed as received from the remote server.  The only formating/interpretation done on the data is to transform nonascii data into a printable (but barely understandable) form. timeout [milliseconds] Specify a timeout period for responses to server queries. The default is about 5000 milliseconds.  Without any arguments, displays the current timeout period.  Note that since ntpq retries each query once after a timeout, the total waiting time for a timeout will be twice the timeout value set. version        Display the version of the ntpq program.