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last

NAME

last - list logins on the system

SYNOPSIS

last

[ -num | -n num | --lines num ]


[ -f filename | --file filename ]
[ people ... ] [ ttys ... ]
[ --complain ] [ --no-truncate-ftp-entries ]
[ -x | --more-records ] [ -a | --all-records ]
[ --tw-leniency num ] [ --tw-suspicious num ]
[ -i | --ip-address ] [ --debug ]
[ -s | --print-seconds ] [ -y | --print-year ]
[ -V | --version ] [ -h | --help ]

DESCRIPTION

last looks through the file wtmp (which records all logins/logouts) and prints information about connect times of users. Records are printed from most recent to least recent. Records can be specified by tty and username. tty names can be abbreviated: last 0 is equivalent to last tty0.

Multiple arguments can be specified: last root console will print all of the entries for the user root and all entries logged in on the console tty.

The special users reboot and shutdown log in when the system reboots or (surprise) shuts down. last reboot will produce a record of reboot times.

If last is interrupted by a quit signal, it prints out how far its search in the wtmp file had reached and then quits.

OPTIONS

-n num, --lines num

Limit the number of lines that last outputs. This is different from u*x last, which lets you specify the number right after a dash.

-f filename, --file filename

Read from the file filename instead of the system's wtmp file.

--complain

When the wtmp file has a problem (a time-warp, missing record, or whatever), print out an appropriate error.

--tw-leniency num

Set the time warp leniency to num seconds. Records in wtmp files might be slightly out of order (most notably when two logins occur within a one-second period - the second one gets written first). By default, this value is set to 60. If the program notices this problem, time is not assigned to users unless the --timewarps flag is used.

--tw-suspicious num

Set the time warp suspicious value to num seconds. If two records in the wtmp file are farther than this number of seconds apart, there is a problem with the wtmp file (or your machine hasn't been used in a year). If the program notices this problem, time is not assigned to users unless the --timewarps flag is used.

--no-truncate-ftp-entries

When printing out the information, don't chop the number part off of `ftp'XXXX entries.

-x, --more-records

Print out run level changes, shutdowns, and time changes in addition to the normal records.

-a, --all-records

Print out all records in the wtmp file.

-i, --ip-address

Some machines store the IP address of a connection in a utmp record. Enabling this option makes last print the IP address instead of the hostname.

--debug

Print verbose internal information.

-s, --print-seconds

Print seconds when displaying dates.

-y, --print-year

Print year when displaying dates.

-V, --version

Print last's version number.

-h, --help

Prints the usage string and default locations of system files to standard output and exits.

FILES

wtmp
The system wide login record file. See wtmp(5) for further details.

AUTHOR

The GNU accounting utilities were written by Noel Cragg <noel@gnu.ai.mit.edu>. The man page was added by Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd@qed.econ.queensu.ca>.

SEE ALSO

who(1), wtmp(5)