NAME

last − indicate last logins of users and teletypes

SYNOPSIS

last [ name ...  ] [ tty ...  ]

DESCRIPTION

last will look back in the wtmp file which records all logins and logouts for information about a user, a teletype [terminal] or any group of users and teletypes.  Arguments specify names of users or teletypes of interest.  Names of teletypes may be given fully or abbreviated.  The following two examples produce the same result:

last 0
last tty0

If multiple arguments are given, the information which applies to any of the arguments is printed.  For example,

last root console

would list all of “root’s” sessions as well as all sessions on the console terminal. 

last reports the sessions of the specified users and teletypes, most recent first, indicating start times, duration, and teletype for each.  If the session is still continuing or was cut short by a reboot, last so indicates. 

EXAMPLE

last reboot

will give an indication of mean time between reboots of the system. 

last with no arguments prints a record of all logins and logouts, in reverse order.  Since last can generate a great deal of output, piping it through more(1) for screen viewing is advised.

If last is interrupted with a BREAK, it indicates how far the search has progressed in wtmp. If interrupted with a quit signal (generated by a CTRL−\), last exits and dumps core. 

CTRL−d (EOF) signal does nothing.  Therefore exit gracefully from last with a BREAK or SHIFT−DELETE signal. 

FILES

/etc/wtmplogin data base

AUTHOR

Howard Katseff

Version 2.5r1  —  October 29, 1986