LAST(1)                                                                LAST(1)


NAME
     last - indicate last logins of users and terminals

SYNOPSIS
     last [ -# ] [ -a ] [ -x ] [ -f file [ -W ] [ name ...  ] [ tty ...  ]

DESCRIPTION
     Last will look in the wtmp file which records all logins and logouts for
     information about a user, a terminal or any group of users and terminals.
     Arguments specify names of users or terminals of interest.  Names of
     terminals may be given fully or abbreviated.  For example `last d1' is
     the same as `last ttyd1'.  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.

     Note that Last shows only users of ttys and it does not report any logged
     in users who are simply running X applications from their desktop menus.

     Last will print the sessions of the specified users and terminals, most
     recent first, indicating the times at which the session began, the
     duration of the session, and the terminal which the session took place
     on.  Last indicates if the session is still continuing or was cut short
     by a reboot.  If wtmpx exists, last will also print the session's
     $DISPLAY (see xdm(1)), which generally identifies the remote host
     originating telnet, FTP, or rlogin sessions.  In some cases this ``from''
     field will be blank.

     The pseudo-user reboot logs in at reboots of the system, thus ``last
     reboot'' will give an indication of mean time between system restarts.

     Last with no arguments prints a record of all logins and logouts, in
     reverse order.  The -# option limits the report to # lines, where # is a
     number.

     Last ordinarily does not display uninteresting records associated with
     starting and stopping a login.  The -a option displays those records.

     The -f option can be used to examine another file, such as
     /var/adm/OLDwtmp, in which old records are kept.  If the file is in
     extended format (eg. /var/adm/OLDwtmpx), the -x option must be used also.

     -W displays the ``from'' field on a separate line, untruncated.  (The
     utmpx ut_host field accommodates a 256-character string, but most
     commands truncate before displaying it.)

     If last is interrupted, it indicates how far the search has progressed in
     wtmp. If interrupted with a quit signal (generated by a control-\), last
     indicates how far the search has progressed so far, and the search
     continues.


NOTE
     Unlike in past releases, the wtmp and wtmpx files are automatically
     created during software installation.

     The wtmp and wtmpx files are rotated on a regular basis by cron(1M) to
     prevent them from filling the disk.

FILES
     /var/adm/wtmp       login data base
     /var/adm/wtmpx      extended login data base
     /var/adm/OLDwtmp    previous wtmp file
     /var/adm/OLDwtmpx   previous wtmpx file

SEE ALSO
     xdm(1), w(1), who(1), utmp(4), utmpx(4), wtmp(4), wtmpx(4)


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