The finger command¶
The finger displays information about the system users.
Examples:¶
- View detail about a particular user.
finger abc Output Login: abc Name: (null) Directory: /home/abc Shell: /bin/bash On since Mon Nov 1 18:45 (IST) on :0 (messages off) On since Mon Nov 1 18:46 (IST) on pts/0 from :0.0 New mail received Fri May 7 10:33 2013 (IST) Unread since Sat Jun 7 12:59 2003 (IST) No Plan.
- View login details and Idle status about an user
finger -s root Output Login Name Tty Idle Login Time Office Office Phone root root *1 19d Wed 17:45 root root *2 3d Fri 16:53 root root *3 Mon 20:20 root root *ta 2 Tue 15:43 root root *tb 2 Tue 15:44
Syntax:¶
finger [-l] [-m] [-p] [-s] [username]
Additional Flags and their Functionalities:¶
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
-l | Force long output format. |
-m | Match arguments only on user name (not first or last name). |
-p | Suppress printing of the .plan file in a long format printout. |
-s | Force short output format. |
Additional Information¶
Default Format
The default format includes the following items:
Login name
Full username
Terminal name
Write status (an * (asterisk) before the terminal name indicates that write permission is denied)
For each user on the host, the default information list also includes, if known, the following items:
Idle time (Idle time is minutes if it is a single integer, hours and minutes if a : (colon) is present, or days and hours if a “d” is present.)
Login time
Site-specific information
Longer Format
A longer format is used by the finger command whenever a list of user’s names is given. (Account names as well as first and last names of users are accepted.) This format is multiline, and includes all the information described above along with the following:
User’s $HOME directory
User’s login shell
Contents of the .plan file in the user’s $HOME directory
Contents of the .project file in the user’s $HOME directory