UNIX / Linux List Current Logged In Users

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w

Tutorial details Difficulty Easy (rss) Root privileges No Requirements w or who command Time N/A

who

users

Examples

How do I print the user names of users currently logged in to the current UNIX / Linux host / server from a command prompt?You need to use any one of the following tool.[a]command – Shows information about the users currently on the machine, and their processes.[b]command – Shows information about users who are currently logged in. [c]command – Shows the login names of the users currently on the system, in sorted order, space separated, on a single line. It reads all information from /var/run/utmp file.

Open a terminal (or login into remote server using ssh command) and type the following commands.

w command

Type the w command:

$ w

Sample outputs:



# w tom

who command

To see info about a user named tom, enter:

who command works on all Unix like operating systems:

# who

Sample outputs:

root pts/0 2013-03-12 15:10 (10.1.3.177)

Pass the -a option to who command:

# who -a

Sample outputs:

system boot 2013-03-02 04:10 run-level 3 2013-03-02 04:10 LOGIN /dev/ttyS1 2013-03-02 04:11 7951 id=v/tt LOGIN tty2 2013-03-02 04:11 7953 id=2 LOGIN tty1 2013-03-02 04:11 7950 id=1 LOGIN tty3 2013-03-02 04:11 7955 id=3 LOGIN tty4 2013-03-02 04:11 7957 id=4 LOGIN tty5 2013-03-02 04:11 7959 id=5 LOGIN tty6 2013-03-02 04:11 7961 id=6 root + pts/0 2013-03-12 15:10 . 7451 (10.1.3.177) pts/1 2013-03-08 12:29 23510 id=ts/1 term=0 exit=0

Other options

You can pass the following options to the who command (taken from the who command man page):

Just open a -a, --all same as -b -d --login -p -r -t -T -u -b, --boot time of last system boot -d, --dead print dead processes -H, --heading print line of column headings -l, --login print system login processes --lookup attempt to canonicalize hostnames via DNS -m only hostname and user associated with stdin -p, --process print active processes spawned by init -q, --count all login names and number of users logged on -r, --runlevel print current runlevel -s, --short print only name, line, and time (default) -t, --time print last system clock change -T, -w, --mesg add user's message status as +, - or ? -u, --users list users logged in --message same as -T --writable same as -T --help display this help and exit --version output version information and exit

users command

Open a terminal or login over the ssh session and enter the following command:

$ users

Sample outputs:

abhi charvi vivek vivek zcafe