who(1)

who1

Show who is logged on

Usage

who [OPTION] ... [{FILE | ARG1 ARG2}]

Overview

Print information about users who are currently logged in.

-a, --all

same as -b -d --login -p -r -t -T -u

-b, --boot

time of last system boot

-d, --dead

print dead processes

-H, --heading

print line of column headings

-l, --login

print system login processes

--lookup

attempt to canonicalize hostnames via DNS

-m

only hostname and user associated with standard input

-p, --process

print active processes spawned by init

-q, --count

all login names and number of users logged on

-r, --runlevel

print current runlevel

-s, --short

print only name, line, and time (default)

-t, --time

print last system clock change

-T, -w, --mesg

add user's message status as +, - or ?

-u, --users

list users logged in, including idle time

--message

same as -T

--writable

same as -T

--help

display this help and exit

--version

output version information and exit

If FILE is not specified, use /var/run/utmp. /var/log/wtmp as FILE is common. If ARG1 ARG2 given, -m presumed: 'am i' or 'mom likes' are usual.

Releases

19 releases since Debian 1.1 (Buzz); the text changed 15 times.

  1. 1.1–1.2
  2. 1.3–2.1
  3. 2.2
  4. 3.0
  5. 3.1
  6. 4.0
  7. 5.0
  8. 6.0
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. Arch

--all since Debian 3.0 (Woody); --boot since Debian 3.0 (Woody); --dead since Debian 3.0 (Woody); --login since Debian 3.0 (Woody); --lookup since Debian 2.2 (Potato); --process since Debian 3.0 (Woody); --runlevel since Debian 3.0 (Woody); --short since Debian 3.0 (Woody); --time since Debian 3.0 (Woody); --users since Debian 3.0 (Woody); -a since Debian 3.0 (Woody); -b since Debian 3.0 (Woody); -d since Debian 3.0 (Woody); -l since Debian 2.2 (Potato); -p since Debian 3.0 (Woody); -r since Debian 3.0 (Woody); -t since Debian 3.0 (Woody).

--idle until Debian 3.1 (Sarge); --ips until Debian 12 (Bookworm); -i until Debian 3.1 (Sarge).

Author

Written by Joseph Arceneaux, David MacKenzie, and Michael Stone.

Reporting bugs

Report bugs to: <[email protected]>.
Report any translation bugs to: <https://translationproject.org/team/>.
GNU coreutils home page: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
General help using GNU software: <https://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>

From coreutils 9.12-2 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.