can Type / Purpose Command Example
TARGET SELECTION  
Scan a single IP nmap 192.168.1.1
Scan a host nmap www.testhostname.com
Scan a range of IPs nmap 192.168.1.1-20
Scan a subnet nmap 192.168.1.0/24
Scan targets from a text file nmap -iL list-of-ips.txt
Scan IPv6 nmap -6 fe80::1
PORT SELECTION  
Scan a single Port nmap -p 22 192.168.1.1
Scan a range of ports nmap -p 1-100 192.168.1.1
Scan 100 most common ports (Fast) nmap -F 192.168.1.1
Scan all 65535 ports nmap -p- 192.168.1.1
Scan specific ports nmap -p 22,80,443 192.168.1.1
Scan ports by name nmap -p http,https 192.168.1.1
PORT SCAN TYPES  
TCP connect scan nmap -sT 192.168.1.1
TCP SYN scan (default, requires root) nmap -sS 192.168.1.1
UDP port scan nmap -sU -p 123,161,162 192.168.1.1
Fast scan. Skip discovery (-Pn, -F) nmap -Pn -F 192.168.1.1
TCP ACK scan (Firewall rule mapping) nmap -sA 192.168.1.1
TIMING & PERFORMANCE CONTROLS  
Increase scan speed (minimum packet rate) nmap –min-rate 5000 192.168.1.1
Throttle scan speed (maximum packet rate) nmap –max-rate 1000 192.168.1.1
Limit retries (avoid slow networks) nmap –max-retries 2 192.168.1.1
Set a timeout per host nmap –host-timeout 30s 192.168.1.1
HOST DISCOVERY  
No scan - list targets only* nmap -sL 192.168.1.0/24
Disable host discovery - port scan only nmap -Pn 192.168.1.1
Disable port scan (Ping scan) nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24
TCP SYN discovery on port 443 nmap -PS443 192.168.1.1
TCP ACK discovery on port 80 nmap -PA80 192.168.1.1
UDP discovery on port 53 nmap -PU53 192.168.1.1
SERVICE AND OS DETECTION  
Standard Version detection nmap -sV 192.168.1.1
Aggressive Service Detection nmap -sV –version-intensity 5 192.168.1.1
Lighter banner grabbing detection nmap -sV –version-intensity 0 192.168.1.1
Detect OS and Services nmap -A 192.168.1.1
OS detection only nmap -O 192.168.1.1
Aggressive scan and traceroute nmap -A -T4 192.168.1.1
OUTPUT FORMATS  
Save default output to file nmap -oN outputfile.txt 192.168.1.1
Save results as XML nmap -oX outputfile.xml 192.168.1.1
Save results in a format for grep nmap -oG outputfile.txt 192.168.1.1
Save in all formats nmap -oA outputfile 192.168.1.1
NSE SCRIPTING  
Scan using default safe scripts nmap -sV -sC 192.168.1.1
Quick web recon nmap -p 80,443 –script=http-title,http-server-header 192.168.1.1
HTTP Security headers (HSTS, CSP, etc) nmap -p 80,443 –script=http-security-headers 192.168.1.1
Get help for a script nmap –script-help=http-enum
Scan using a specific NSE script nmap -sV -p 22 –script=ssh-hostkey 192.168.1.1
Scan with a set of scripts nmap -sV –script=smb* 192.168.1.1
Scan for UDP DDoS reflectors nmap -sU -A -Pn -n -pU:19,53,123,161 –script=ntp-monlist,dns-recursion,snmp-sysdescr 192.168.1.0/24
Gather page titles from HTTP services nmap –script=http-title 192.168.1.0/24
Get HTTP headers of web services nmap –script=http-headers 192.168.1.0/24
Find web apps from known paths nmap –script=http-enum 192.168.1.0/24
SSH Host Key Collection nmap -p 22 –script=ssh-hostkey,ssh-auth-methods 192.168.1.1
Find Information about IP address nmap –script=asn-query,whois,ip-geolocation-maxmind 192.168.1.0/24
Check for SSL Heartbleed (legacy example) nmap -sV -p 443 –script=ssl-heartbleed 192.168.1.0/24
TLS cert + cipher information nmap -p 443 –script=ssl-cert,ssl-enum-ciphers 192.168.1.1