Linux remove or clear the last login information
Q. How do I clear or remove last login information? I would like to clear all the login information. I am using Fedora Core 6 Linux.
A. /var/log/lastlog file stores user last login information. This is binary file. You need to use lastlog command to formats and prints the contents of the last login log /var/log/lastlog file.
Following information is printed using lastlog command:
=> The login-name
=> Port
=> Last login time
Task: Display last login information
Simply type lastlog:
$ lastlog
Output:
Username Port From Latest root tty1 Thu Jan 25 15:23:50 +0530 2007 daemon **Never logged in** bin **Never logged in** sys **Never logged in** sync **Never logged in** vivek tty1 Sat Jan 27 22:10:36 +0530 2007 pdnsd **Never logged in** sshd **Never logged in** messagebus **Never logged in** bind **Never logged in** sweta tty1 Sat Jan 27 19:55:22 +0530 2007
Note: If the user has never logged in the message "**Never logged in**" will be displayed instead of the port and time.
Task: Clear last login information
Simply overwrite /var/log/lastlog file. You must be the root user. First make a backup of /var/log/lastlog:
# cp /var/log/lastlog /root
Now overwrite file using any one of the following command:
# >/var/log/lastlog
OR
# cat > /var/log/lastlog
Press CTR+D
Subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter or RSS feed to get all updates.
You can Email this page to a friend.
Related Other Helpful FAQs:
- Linux / UNIX: Clear bash history
- Clear Linux / UNIX BASH Shell Command Line Cache / History
- Reconfiguring FreeBSD Ports - Remove OPTIONS config For Any Port
- Clear mysql command line history stored in ~/.mysql_history file
- How to: Linux display remote X application over telnet session
Discussion on This FAQ
Leave a Reply
We encourage your comments, and suggestions. But please stay on topic, be polite, and avoid spam. Thank you very much for stopping by our site!
January 29th, 2007 at 7:17 am
maybe simpler:
sudo touch /var/log/lastlog ?
January 29th, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Daniel,
Touch command update the access and modification times of each FILE to the current time. So it will not empty the file.
If file is deleted, you can use touch command. Agin you need to run chmod to set correct permission:
sudo /bin/rm /var/log/lastlogsudo touch /var/log/lastlog
soud chown root:adm /var/log/lastlog
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Lastlog will not have su information. Like user1 su to user2 this login information will not update the lastlog file. Is it possible to customize this to update su information also into lastlogin ? If yes please help me how to do this.