---
title: "BIND block options"
slug: "bind-block-options"
description: "The options block does not have to be present in the BIND configuration file, if there are no options to set, or to change from their default values."
tags: ["BIND Configuration", "Configuration", "Configuration Hierarchy"]
updated: 2025-12-19T15:46:54Z
published: 2025-12-19T15:46:54Z
canonical: "kb.isc.org/bind-block-options"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.isc.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# BIND block options

## Name

```
options
```

## Syntax

```
options {
   ...
};
```

## Blocks

[topmost](/v1/docs/bind-block-topmost)

## Default value(s)

None

## Introduced

- Date:	1997-05-06
- BIND version:	8.1.1

## Deprecated

Still current as of 2025-11-24

## Description

The `options` block does not have to be present in the BIND configuration file, if there are no options to set, or to change from their default values. Thus there is no default value for `options` as such, it being a container in which other statements are put, rather than defining anything itself.

The syntax shown above is legal, apart from the ellipsis, which are there to show that one or more statements may be contained within this block.

```
options {
};
```

on its own is equivalent to not defining the block at all; it causes no action to be performed.

## ARM reference

This statement is defined in the Administrator Reference manual (ARM) [here](https://bind9.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference.html#namedconf-statement-options)

## See also...