last

LAST,LASTB(1)         Linux System Administrator's Manual        LAST,LASTB(1)



NAME
       last, lastb - show listing of last logged in users

SYNOPSIS
       last  [-R] [-num] [ -n num ] [-adiox] [ -f file ] [ -t YYYYMMDDHHMMSS ]
       [name...]  [tty...]
       lastb [-R] [-num] [ -n num ] [ -f file ] [ -t YYYYMMDDHHMMSS ] [-adiox]
       [name...]  [tty...]

DESCRIPTION
       Last  searches  back through the file /var/log/wtmp (or the file desig-
       nated by the -f flag) and displays a list of all users logged  in  (and
       out)  since  that  file  was  created.  Names of users and tty's can be
       given, in which case last will show only  those  entries  matching  the
       arguments.   Names  of ttys can be abbreviated, thus last 0 is the same
       as last tty0.

       When last catches a SIGINT signal (generated by the interrupt key, usu-
       ally control-C) or a SIGQUIT signal (generated by the quit key, usually
       control-\), last will show how far it has searched through the file; in
       the case of the SIGINT signal last will then terminate.

       The  pseudo user reboot logs in each time the system is rebooted.  Thus
       last reboot will show a log of all reboots since the log file was  cre-
       ated.

       Lastb is the same as last, except that by default it shows a log of the
       file /var/log/btmp, which contains all the bad login attempts.

OPTIONS
       -num   This is a count telling last how many lines to show.

       -n num The same.

       -t YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
              Display the state of logins as of the specified time.   This  is
              useful, e.g., to determine easily who was logged in at a partic-
              ular time -- specify that time  with  -t  and  look  for  "still
              logged in".

       -R     Suppresses the display of the hostname field.

       -a     Display  the  hostname in the last column. Useful in combination
              with the next flag.

       -d     For non-local logins, Linux stores not only the host name of the
              remote  host  but  its IP number as well. This option translates
              the IP number back into a hostname.

       -i     This option is like -d in that it displays the IP number of  the
              remote  host,  but it displays the IP number in numbers-and-dots
              notation.

       -o     Read an old-type wtmp  file  (written  by  linux-libc5  applica-
              tions).

       -x     Display the system shutdown entries and run level changes.

NOTES
       The files wtmp and btmp might not be found. The system only logs infor-
       mation in these files if they are present. This is a  local  configura-
       tion  issue. If you want the files to be used, they can be created with
       a simple touch(1) command (for example, touch /var/log/wtmp).

FILES
       /var/log/wtmp
       /var/log/btmp

AUTHOR
       Miquel van Smoorenburg, miquels@cistron.nl

SEE ALSO
       shutdown(8), login(1), init(8)



                                 Jul 29, 1999                    LAST,LASTB(1)