Which NetCat option sets a timeout for connections (-w)?

• A. -v
• B. -w
• C. -L
• D. -n

Answer: (B)

Setting a timeout for connections is about telling netcat to stop trying after a set period so your scan or script doesn’t hang. The timeout option accepts a number of seconds and applies to the connection attempt, so netcat will give up if the target doesn’t respond within that window. The best choice is the option that specifies this wait time; it is used to require netcat to abort after the defined duration. For example, you can run netcat with a 5-second limit to connect to a host on a given port, and if the connection isn’t established within 5 seconds, netcat exits. The other options serve different purposes: one controls how verbose the output is, another disables DNS lookups, and another relates to a listening or local-address behavior rather than timing.