Whois client for Python

def whois(ip_address):
    """Whois client for Python"""
    whois_ip = str(ip_address)
    try:
        query = socket.gethostbyname(whois_ip)
    except Exception:
        query = whois_ip
    s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    s.connect(("whois.ripe.net", 43))
    s.send(query.encode("utf8") + b"\r\n")
    answer = b""
    while True:
        d = s.recv(4096)
        answer += d
        if not d:
            break
    s.close()
    ignore_tag = b"remarks:"
    # ignore all lines starting with the ignore_tag
    lines = [line for line in answer.split(b"\n") if not line or (line and not line.startswith(ignore_tag))]  # noqa: E501
    # remove empty lines at the bottom
    for i in range(1, len(lines)):
        if not lines[-i].strip():
            del lines[-i]
        else:
            break
    return b"\n".join(lines[3:])