1LASTLOG(8) System Management Commands LASTLOG(8)
2
6 lastlog - reports the most recent login of all users or of a given user
7
9 lastlog [options]
10
12 lastlog formats and prints the contents of the last login log
13 /var/log/lastlog file. The login-name, port, and last login time will
14 be printed. The default (no flags) causes lastlog entries to be
15 printed, sorted by their order in /etc/passwd.
16
18 The options which apply to the lastlog command are:
19 -b, --before DAYS
21 Print only lastlog records older than DAYS.
22 -C, --clear
24 Clear lastlog record of a user. This option can be used only
25 together with -u (--user)).
26 -h, --help
28 Display help message and exit.
29 -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
31 Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
32 files from the CHROOT_DIR directory. Only absolute paths are
33 supported.
34 -S, --set
36 Set lastlog record of a user to the current time. This option can
37 be used only together with -u (--user)).
38 -t, --time DAYS
40 Print the lastlog records more recent than DAYS.
41 -u, --user LOGIN|RANGE
43 Print the lastlog record of the specified user(s).
44 The users can be specified by a login name, a numerical user ID, or
46 a RANGE of users. This RANGE of users can be specified with a min
47 and max values (UID_MIN-UID_MAX), a max value (-UID_MAX), or a min
48 value (UID_MIN-).
49 If the user has never logged in the message ** Never logged in** will
51 be displayed instead of the port and time.
52 Only the entries for the current users of the system will be displayed.
54 Other entries may exist for users that were deleted previously.
55
57 The lastlog file is a database which contains info on the last login of
58 each user. You should not rotate it. It is a sparse file, so its size
59 on the disk is usually much smaller than the one shown by "ls -l"
60 (which can indicate a really big file if you have in passwd users with
61 a high UID). You can display its real size with "ls -s".
62
64 The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
65 behavior of this tool:
66 LASTLOG_UID_MAX (number)
68 Highest user ID number for which the lastlog entries should be
69 updated. As higher user IDs are usually tracked by remote user
70 identity and authentication services there is no need to create a
71 huge sparse lastlog file for them.
72 No LASTLOG_UID_MAX option present in the configuration means that
74 there is no user ID limit for writing lastlog entries.
75
77 /var/log/lastlog
78 Database times of previous user logins.
79
81 Large gaps in UID numbers will cause the lastlog program to run longer
82 with no output to the screen (i.e. if in lastlog database there is no
83 entries for users with UID between 170 and 800 lastlog will appear to
84 hang as it processes entries with UIDs 171-799).
85 Having high UIDs can create problems when handling the <term>
87 /var/log/lastlog</term> with external tools. Although the actual file
88 is sparse and does not use too much space, certain applications are not
89 designed to identify sparse files by default and may require a specific
90 option to handle them.
91shadow-utils 4.14.0 10/03/2023 LASTLOG(8)