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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,
usually 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 par-
ticular 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 trans-
lates 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
information in these files if they are present. This is a local con-
figuration 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)
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