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 ] [-adFiowx] [ -f file ] [ -t YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
       ] [name...] [tty...]
       lastb [-R] [-num] [ -n num ] [ -f file ] [-adFiowx] [name...] [tty...]

DESCRIPTION
       Last searches back through the file /var/log/wtmp (or the file
       designated 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
       created.

       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
       -f file
              Tells last to use a specific file instead of /var/log/wtmp.

       -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
              particular 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 translates
              the IP number back into a hostname.

       -F     Print full login and logout times and dates.

       -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
              applications).

       -w     Display full user and domain names in the output.

       -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
       configuration 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)



                                 July 31, 2004                   LAST,LASTB(1)