How do I see all users logged in Linux?

A Linux system admin should keep an eye on who is currently logged into the Linux system and what are they up to. We already knew how to find the last logged in users in Linux. How would you identify who is logged on your Linux system at the moment and what they are doing? Easy! This tutorial lists various methods to find currently logged in users in Linux.

Contents

1. 1. Find currently logged in users in Linux using w command
2. 2. Display all logged in users using who command
3. 3. Print logged in users with users command
4. 4. View logged in users with last command
5. 5. Find who is logged in a Linux system using id command
6. 6. List logged in users with finger command

1. Find currently logged in users in Linux using $ w ostechnix 08:51:36 up 37 min, 2 users, load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76 USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT ostechni pts/1 192.168.225.37 08:42 0.00s 0.09s 0.01s w ostech4 command

In Linux operating systems, there is special, single letter command called

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

5 that helps you to find who is logged on and what they are doing in the system. This is the most commonly used command line tool to display the information about the users currently on the server, and their processes.

The

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

4 command is often useful when you are administering a Linux server that is frequently being accessed by many users. You can track all of them without having to install any additional tools or applications.

The

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

4 command shows various useful details including the following:

• the current time,
• how long the system has been running,
• how many users are currently logged on,
• and the system load averages for the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes.

The

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

4 command fetches information about who is currently logged on from the

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

9 file and retrieves the process information from the

$ w -h
sk       tty1     -                08:41   16:13   0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    1.00s  0.09s  0.01s w -h

0 file.

Now let us see how to use

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

4 command to display who is logged in on your Linux machine and what they are doing.

The typical usage of

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

4 command is:

$ w [options] user

When you run w command without any options, it will display all currently logged in users in your Linux system:

$ w

Sample output:

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

Find currently logged in users in Linux using

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

4 command

As you can see in the above output, currently there are two users (sk and ostechni) logged into my Ubuntu server. The

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

4 command displays the following details for the individual users:

• login name,
• the tty name,
• source IP address from which the user logged in,
• login time,
• idle time,
• JCPU time (the time used by all processes attached to the tty),
• PCPU time (the time used by the current process),
• and the command line of their current process.

If you want to display the details of a specific logged in user (E.g. ostechnix), the command would be:

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

You can omit the header from the output using

$ w -h
sk       tty1     -                08:41   16:13   0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    1.00s  0.09s  0.01s w -h

5 option:

$ w -h
sk       tty1     -                08:41   16:13   0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    1.00s  0.09s  0.01s w -h

You can also display IP address instead of hostname for

$ w -h
sk       tty1     -                08:41   16:13   0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    1.00s  0.09s  0.01s w -h

6 (remote hostname) field using 

$ w -h
sk       tty1     -                08:41   16:13   0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    1.00s  0.09s  0.01s w -h

7 option:

$ w -i

You may not want to print all the details. If so, you can exclude the login time, JCPU or PCPU times using

$ w -h
sk       tty1     -                08:41   16:13   0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    1.00s  0.09s  0.01s w -h

8 (

$ w -h
sk       tty1     -                08:41   16:13   0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    1.00s  0.09s  0.01s w -h

9) option:

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

For more details, check man pages:

$ man w

Or, refer help section:

$ w --help

Usage:
 w [options]

Options:
 -h, --no-header     do not print header
 -u, --no-current    ignore current process username
 -s, --short         short format
 -f, --from          show remote hostname field
 -o, --old-style     old style output
 -i, --ip-addr       display IP address instead of hostname (if possible)

     --help     display this help and exit
 -V, --version  output version information and exit

For more details see w(1).

2. Display all logged in users using $ w -i0 command

The

$ w -i

0 command is yet another command line tool to display information about users who are currently logged in a Linux machine.

If you run

$ w -i

0 command without any options, it will display all logged in users:

$ who

Sample output:

$ w

0

Display currently logged in users in Linux using who command

As you see in the above output,

$ w -i

0 command shows the username, type of the terminal device (E.g.

$ w -i

4 or

$ w -i

5) on which the session took place, boot time and the source IP address from which the user logged in.

You can filter details for a specific user with

$ w -i

6 command:

$ w

1

The above command will find if the given user ostechnix is logged in or not.

If you want to display information only for the current terminal session, run:

$ w

2

Please note the spaces between the words. If you execute the above command without any spaces, it will only display the username:

$ w

3

The

$ w -i

0 command has few other options to get customised output.

For example, you can display all available information of current logins using

$ w -i

8 flag:

$ w

4

Sample output:

$ w

5

To display all available information with column headers, use

$ w -i

9 flag:

$ w

6

For more details, refer the man pages and help section of who command using any one of the following commands:

$ w

7

$ w

8

3. Print logged in users with $ w -s 09:02:50 up 48 min, 2 users, load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84 USER TTY FROM IDLE WHAT sk tty1 - 21:02 -bash ostechni pts/1 192.168.225.37 1.00s w -s0 command

The

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

0 command prints the user names of users currently logged in to the current host system.

To display a list of all logged in users in a Linux machine, run:

$ w

9

To get help, run any one of the following commands:

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

0

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

1

4. View logged in users with $ w -s 09:02:50 up 48 min, 2 users, load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84 USER TTY FROM IDLE WHAT sk tty1 - 21:02 -bash ostechni pts/1 192.168.225.37 1.00s w -s2 command

The

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

2 command usually displays all the users that have ever logged in and out of a Linux machine since the 

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

4 file was created.

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

2

The list of currently logged in users are shown at the top.

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

3

For help, see man pages or use

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

5 option:

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

4

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

5

5. Find who is logged in a Linux system using id command

The

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

6 command is used to print user and group information for the specified USER, or for the current user when USER is omitted.

To print the currently logged in user in the current session, run

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

6 command with

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

8 options:

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

6

This is same as the

$ w -s
 09:02:50 up 48 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.79, 0.84
USER     TTY      FROM              IDLE WHAT
sk       tty1     -                21:02  -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37    1.00s w -s

9 command.

To get help, do:

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

7

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

8

All of the aforementioned tools are available by default in most Linux distributions. There is one more command line tool available to find who is logged in a Linux system. It is not installed by default, but available in the default repositories of most Linux distributions.

6. List logged in users with finger command

Finger is a command line user information lookup utility. It displays the user's login name, real name, terminal name and write status, idle time, login time, office location and office phone number etc.

The finger program is not installed by default in some Linux distributions. You can install finger in Debian, Ubuntu systems using apt package manager like below:

 08:42:30 up 28 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.30, 0.87, 0.45
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
sk       tty1     -                08:41   42.00s  0.10s  0.06s -bash
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    6.00s  0.09s  0.01s w

9

Once installed, run finger command to find logged in users in your Linux system:

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

0

Sample output:

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

1

Display information about a specific user:

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

2

Sample output:

$ w ostechnix 
 08:51:36 up 37 min,  2 users,  load average: 1.12, 1.06, 0.76
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ostechni pts/1    192.168.225.37   08:42    0.00s  0.09s  0.01s w ostech

3

These are a few methods to find the currently logged in users in a Linux system. Knowing who is logged in and finding what they are doing in your system can be helpful at troubleshooting times. I hope one of the aforementioned methods will help you out.