last(1)last(1)NAME
last, lastb - indicate last logins of users and ttys
SYNOPSIS
file] [name ...] [tty ...]
file] [name ...] [tty ...]
DESCRIPTION
The command searches backwards through the file (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, is the same as If multiple arguments are given, the infor‐
mation that applies to any of the arguments is printed. For example,
lists all of sessions as well as all sessions on the console terminal.
The 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. indicates if the
session is still in progress or if it was cut short by a reboot.
The pseudo-user logs each time the system reboots. Thus, is a useful
command for evaluating the relative time between system reboots.
If is interrupted, it indicates how far the search has progressed in If
interrupted by a quit signal (generated by a Ctrl-\), indicates how far
the search has progressed, then continues the search.
The command searches backwards through the database file to display bad
login information. Access to should be restricted to users with appro‐
priate privileges (owned by and readable only by because it may contain
password information.
Options
The and commands recognize the following options and arguments:
(none) If no arguments are specified, prints a record of all
logins and logouts in reverse order, most recent
first.
When used with
and displays the user's host name as it is stored in
the files and respectively. The host name is dis‐
played between the tty name and the user's login time.
Limits the report to
number of lines.
Use file as the name of the accounting file instead of or
Use file as the name of the accounting database instead of
This option should be used along with the option.
Display the fields in long format if this flag is used
along with the flag. Without the flag, normal output
is displayed.
AUTHOR
was developed by the University of California, Berkeley and HP.
FILES
Bad login database
Login database
New login database
New bad login database
SEE ALSOlogin(1), utmp(4), wtmps(4).
last(1)
