example.com

example.com, example.net, and example.org are second-level domain names reserved (by RFC 2606, Section 3) for use in documentation as examples. They are not available for registration.

By reserving these, IANA made available domains to use in manuals and sample software configurations. Thus, documentation writers can be sure to pick a domain that won’t inconvenience anyone if end-users try to use the sample configurations or examples as-is.

When an address such as "yourusername@example.com" is used to demonstrate the sign-up process on a website, it indicates to the user they should fill in an actual address at which they receive e-mail. "Example.com" is often used generically so the website does not need to choose from the many available commercial e-mail services for their example e-mail address.

At present, the domains resolve (in IPv4) to 208.77.188.166 and are managed by ICANN.