Online Man Page

This form may be used to access the UNIX man pages. Note this form runs on a Solaris machine, so the results may disagree with other operating system implementations of the commands.

Topic:     Section:   Keyword search:


NAME

     finger - display information about local and remote users


SYNOPSIS

     finger [-bfhilmpqsw] [username...]

     finger [-l] [ username@hostname 1 [ @hostname 2  ..  .@host-
     name n...]]

     finger [-l] [ @hostname 1 [ @hostname 2 .. .@hostname n...]]


DESCRIPTION

     By default, the finger command displays in multi-column for-
     mat the following information about each logged-in user:

       o  user name

       o  user's full name

       o  terminal name (prepended  with  a  `*'  (asterisk)   if
          write-permission is denied)

       o  idle time

       o  login time

       o  host name, if logged in remotely

     Idle time is in minutes if it is a single integer, in  hours
     and  minutes  if  a  `:' (colon)  is present, or in days and
     hours if a `d' is present.

     When one or more username arguments are given, more detailed
     information  is  given  for each username specified, whether
     they are logged in or not. username must be that of a  local
     user,  and  may be a first or last name, or an account name.
     Information is presented in multi-line format as follows:

       o  the user name and the user's full name

       o  the user's home directory and login shell

       o  time the user logged in if currently logged in, or  the
          time  the user last logged in; and the terminal or host
          from which the user logged in

       o  last time the user received mail, and the last time the
          user read mail

       o  the first line of the $HOME/.project file, if it exists

       o  the contents of the $HOME/.plan file, if it exists

     Note: when the comment (GECOS) field in /etc/passwd includes
     a  comma,  finger does not display the information following
     the comma.

     If the arguments username@hostname1[@hostname2...@hostnamen]
     or @hostname1[@hostname2...@hostnamen] are used, the request
     is sent  first  to  hostnamen  and  forwarded  through  each
     hostnamen-1  to  hostname1. The program uses the finger user
     information protocol (see RFC 1288)  to  query  that  remote
     host  for  information about the named user (if  username is
     specified), or about each logged-in  user.  The  information
     displayed is server dependent.

     As required by RFC 1288, finger passes only printable, 7-bit
     ASCII  data.  This  behavior  may  be  modified  by a system
     administrator    by    using    the    PASS    option     in
     /etc/default/finger.  Specifying PASS=low allows all charac-
     ters less than decimal 32 ASCII. Specifying PASS=high allows
     all characters greater than decimal 126 ASCII. PASS=low,high
     or PASS=high,low allows both characters  less  than  32  and
     greater than 126 to pass through.


OPTIONS

     The  following  options  are  supported,  except  that   the
     username@hostname form supports only the -l option:

     -b       Suppresses printing the user's home  directory  and
              shell in a long format printout.

     -f       Suppresses printing the  header  that  is  normally
              printed in a non-long format printout.

     -h       Suppresses printing of the .project file in a  long
              format printout.

     -i       Forces "idle" output format, which  is  similar  to
              short  format except that only the login name, ter-
              minal, login time, and idle time are printed.

     -l       Forces long output format.

     -m       Matches arguments only on user name (not  first  or
              last name).

     -p       Suppresses printing of the .plan  file  in  a  long
              format printout.

     -q       Forces quick output format,  which  is  similar  to
              short  format except that only the login name, ter-
              minal, and login time are printed.

     -s       Forces short output format.

     -w       Suppresses printing the full name in a short format
              printout.


FILES

     $HOME/.plan             user's plan

     $HOME/.project          user's projects

     /etc/default/finger     finger options file

     /etc/passwd             password file

     /var/adm/lastlog        time of last login

     /var/adm/utmpx          accounting


ATTRIBUTES


     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWrcmds                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO

     passwd(1), who(1), whois(1), passwd(4), attributes(5)

     Zimmerman, D., The Finger  User  Information  Protocol,  RFC
     1288,  Center  for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Com-
     puter Science (DIMACS), Rutgers University, December 1991.


NOTES

     The finger user information protocol limits the options that
     may be used with the remote form of this command.