NAME
last, lastb — indicate last logins of users and ttys
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/last
[-R]
[-number]
[-x]
[-X]
[-f
file]
[name ...]
[tty ...]
/usr/bin/lastb
[-R]
[-number]
[-x]
[-X]
[-f
file]
[name ...]
[tty ...]
DESCRIPTION
The
last
command searches backwards through the file
/var/adm/wtmps
(which contains a record of all logins and logouts)
for information about a user, a tty, or any group of users and ttys.
Arguments specify names of users or ttys of interest.
The names of ttys can be given fully or abbreviated.
For example,
last 0
is the same as
last tty0.
If multiple arguments are given, the information that applies
to any of the arguments is printed.
For example,
last root console
lists all of
root's
sessions as well as all sessions
on the console terminal.
The
last
command prints the sessions of the specified users and ttys,
most recent first, indicating when the session began,
the duration of the session,
and the tty on which the session took place.
last
indicates if the session is still in progress or if
it was cut short by a reboot.
The pseudo-user
reboot
logs each time the system reboots.
Thus,
last reboot
is a useful command for evaluating the relative time between system reboots.
If
last
is interrupted, it indicates how far the search has progressed in
wtmp.
If interrupted by a quit signal (generated by a Ctrl-\),
last
indicates how far the search has progressed, then continues the search.
The
lastb
command searches backwards through the database file
/var/adm/btmps
to display bad login information.
Access to
/var/adm/btmps
should be restricted to users with appropriate privileges
(owned by and readable only by
root)
because it may contain password information.
Options
The
last
and
lastb
commands recognize the following options and arguments:
- (none)
If no arguments are specified,
last
prints a record of all logins and logouts in reverse order,
most recent first.
- -R
When used with
last
and
lastb,
-R
displays the user's host name as it is stored in the files
/var/adm/wtmps
and
/var/adm/btmps,
respectively.
The host name is displayed between the tty name
and the user's login time.
- -number
Limits the report to
number
of lines.
- -f file
Use
file
as the name of the accounting file instead
of
/var/adm/wtmp
or
/var/adm/btmp.
- -X
Use
file
as the name of the accounting database instead of
/var/adm/wtmps.
This option should be used along with the
-f file
option.
- -x
Display the fields in long format if this flag is used
along with the
-X
flag.
Without the
-X
flag, normal output is displayed.
AUTHOR
last
was developed by
the University of California, Berkeley and HP.
FILES
- /var/adm/btmp
Bad login database
- /var/adm/wtmp
Login database
- /var/adm/wtmps
New login database
- /var/adm/btmps
New bad login database
Printable version
