LAST(1)LAST(1)NAMElast - indicate last logins of users and terminals
SYNOPSISlast [ -# ] [ -a ] [ -x ] [ -f file [ -W ] [ name ... ] [ tty ... ]
DESCRIPTION
Last will look in the wtmp file which records all logins and logouts for
information about a user, a terminal or any group of users and terminals.
Arguments specify names of users or terminals of interest. Names of
terminals may be given fully or abbreviated. For example `last d1' is
the same as `last ttyd1'. If multiple arguments are given, the
information which applies to any of the arguments is printed. For
example `last root console' would list all of "root's" sessions as well
as all sessions on the console terminal.
Note that Last shows only users of ttys and it does not report any logged
in users who are simply running X applications from their desktop menus.
Last will print the sessions of the specified users and terminals, most
recent first, indicating the times at which the session began, the
duration of the session, and the terminal which the session took place
on. Last indicates if the session is still continuing or was cut short
by a reboot. If wtmpx exists, last will also print the session's
$DISPLAY (see xdm(1)), which generally identifies the remote host
originating telnet, FTP, or rlogin sessions. In some cases this ``from''
field will be blank.
The pseudo-user reboot logs in at reboots of the system, thus ``last
reboot'' will give an indication of mean time between system restarts.
Last with no arguments prints a record of all logins and logouts, in
reverse order. The -# option limits the report to # lines, where # is a
number.
Last ordinarily does not display uninteresting records associated with
starting and stopping a login. The -a option displays those records.
The -f option can be used to examine another file, such as
/var/adm/OLDwtmp, in which old records are kept. If the file is in
extended format (eg. /var/adm/OLDwtmpx), the -x option must be used also.
-W displays the ``from'' field on a separate line, untruncated. (The
utmpx ut_host field accommodates a 256-character string, but most
commands truncate before displaying it.)
If last is interrupted, it indicates how far the search has progressed in
wtmp. If interrupted with a quit signal (generated by a control-\), last
indicates how far the search has progressed so far, and the search
continues.
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LAST(1)LAST(1)NOTE
Unlike in past releases, the wtmp and wtmpx files are automatically
created during software installation.
The wtmp and wtmpx files are rotated on a regular basis by cron(1M) to
prevent them from filling the disk.
FILES
/var/adm/wtmp login data base
/var/adm/wtmpx extended login data base
/var/adm/OLDwtmp previous wtmp file
/var/adm/OLDwtmpx previous wtmpx file
SEE ALSOxdm(1), w(1), who(1), utmp(4), utmpx(4), wtmp(4), wtmpx(4)
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