1LAST, LASTB(1) User Commands LAST, LASTB(1)
2
6 last, lastb - show a listing of last logged in users
7
9 last [options] [username...] [tty...]
10 lastb [options] [username...] [tty...]
11
13 last searches back through the /var/log/wtmp file (or the file desig‐
14 nated by the -f option) and displays a list of all users logged in (and
15 out) since that file was created. One or more usernames and/or ttys
16 can be given, in which case last will show only the entries matching
17 those arguments. Names of ttys can be abbreviated, thus last 0 is the
18 same as last tty0.
19 When catching a SIGINT signal (generated by the interrupt key, usually
21 control-C) or a SIGQUIT signal, last will show how far it has searched
22 through the file; in the case of the SIGINT signal last will then ter‐
23 minate.
24 The pseudo user reboot logs in each time the system is rebooted. Thus
26 last reboot will show a log of all the reboots since the log file was
27 created.
28 lastb is the same as last, except that by default it shows a log of the
30 /var/log/btmp file, which contains all the bad login attempts.
31
33 -a, --hostlast
34 Display the hostname in the last column. Useful in combination
35 with the --dns option.
36 -d, --dns
38 For non-local logins, Linux stores not only the host name of the
39 remote host, but its IP number as well. This option translates
40 the IP number back into a hostname.
41 -f, --file file
43 Tell last to use a specific file instead of /var/log/wtmp. The
44 --file option can be given multiple times, and all of the speci‐
45 fied files will be processed.
46 -F, --fulltimes
48 Print full login and logout times and dates.
49 -i, --ip
51 Like --dns , but displays the host's IP number instead of the
52 name.
53 -number
55 -n, --limit number
56 Tell last how many lines to show.
57 -p, --present time
59 Display the users who were present at the specified time. This
60 is like using the options --since and --until together with the
61 same time.
62 -R, --nohostname
64 Suppresses the display of the hostname field.
65 -s, --since time
67 Display the state of logins since the specified time. This is
68 useful, e.g., to easily determine who was logged in at a partic‐
69 ular time. The option is often combined with --until.
70 -t, --until time
72 Display the state of logins until the specified time.
73 --time-format format
75 Define the output timestamp format to be one of notime, short,
76 full, or iso. The notime variant will not print any timestamps
77 at all, short is the default, and full is the same as the
78 --fulltimes option. The iso variant will display the timestamp
79 in ISO-8601 format. The ISO format contains timezone informa‐
80 tion, making it preferable when printouts are investigated out‐
81 side of the system.
82 -w, --fullnames
84 Display full user names and domain names in the output.
85 -x, --system
87 Display the system shutdown entries and run level changes.
88
90 The options that take the time argument understand the following for‐
91 mats:
92 YYYYMMDDhhmmss
94 YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss
95 YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm (seconds will be set to 00)
96 YYYY-MM-DD (time will be set to 00:00:00)
97 hh:mm:ss (date will be set to today)
98 hh:mm (date will be set to today, seconds to 00)
99 now
100 yesterday (time is set to 00:00:00)
101 today (time is set to 00:00:00)
102 tomorrow (time is set to 00:00:00)
103 +5min
104 -5days
105
107 The files wtmp and btmp might not be found. The system only logs
108 information in these files if they are present. This is a local con‐
109 figuration issue. If you want the files to be used, they can be cre‐
110 ated with a simple touch(1) command (for example, touch /var/log/wtmp).
111
113 /var/log/wtmp
114 /var/log/btmp
115
117 Miquel van Smoorenburg ⟨miquels@cistron.nl⟩
118
120 The last command is part of the util-linux package and is available
121 from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-
122 linux/⟩.
123
125 login(1), wtmp(5), init(8), shutdown(8)
126util-linux October 2013 LAST, LASTB(1)