Both Linux and Unix-like systems come with various command to find out server uptime command. Under Linux file /proc/uptime has uptime information and file/var/run/utmp has information about who is currently logged on. However, info from /proc/uptime or utmp file is not directly readable by humans; therefore, you need to use the following commands. This page shows command that tell how long the Linux and Unix-based system has been running.
Linux Server Uptime Command
Open a command-line terminal (select Applications > Accessories > Terminal), and then type the following command:
$ uptime
Sample outputs:
21:54:11 up 13 days, 4:29, 1 user, load average: 0.21, 0.21, 0.12
The uptime command gives a one line display of the following information.
- The current time (21:54:11)
- How long the system has been running (up 13 days)
- How many users are currently logged on (1 user)
- The system load averages for the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes (0.21, 0.21, 0.12)
See uptime in pretty format pass the -p option to the uptime command
$ uptime -p
Sample outputs:
up 3 days, 2 hours, 11 minutes
This is the same information contained in the header line displayed by the w command and top command:
$ w
Sample outputs:
21:56:06 up 13 days, 4:31, 1 user, load average: 0.03, 0.14, 0.09 USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT root pts/0 123.xxx.yy.zzz 21:54 0.00s 0.02s 0.00s vi
Getting help about uptime command
To check system uptime in Linux and Unix we use the uptime command. However, if you need more information on command option type the following man command:
$ man uptime
OR
$ uptime --help
Sample outputs:
-p, --pretty show uptime in pretty format -h, --help display this help and exit -s, --since system up since -V, --version output version information and exit
Use top command to display Linux system uptime
Type the following command:
$ top
Sample outputs:
Fig.01: UNIX uptime top command output
Conclusion
In this quick tutorial, you learned how to use uptime, w, and top commands to see system uptime and other information from the command line.
- RSS feed or Weekly email newsletter
- Share on Twitter • Facebook • 20 comments... add one ↓
How do you find the uptime of a Linux server?
How to determine Linux guest VM virtualization technology
How to Compile and Install Linux Kernel v4.9.11 Source On a Debian / Ubuntu Linux
Difference Between Linux and UNIX
Debian / Ubuntu Linux Delete Old Kernel Images Command
Stress Test CPU and Memory (VM) On a Linux / Unix With Stress-ng
How to show current logged in users in Linux
| Category | List of Unix and Linux commands |
|---|---|
| File Management | cat |
| Firewall | Alpine Awall • CentOS 8 • OpenSUSE • RHEL 8 • Ubuntu 16.04 • Ubuntu 18.04 • Ubuntu 20.04 |
| Network Utilities | dig • host • ip • nmap |
| OpenVPN | CentOS 7 • CentOS 8 • Debian 10 • Debian 8/9 • Ubuntu 18.04 • Ubuntu 20.04 |
| Package Manager | apk • apt |
| Processes Management | bg • chroot • cron • disown • fg • jobs • killall • kill • pidof • pstree • pwdx • time |
| Searching | grep • whereis • which |
| User Information | groups • id • lastcomm • last • lid/libuser-lid • logname • members • users • whoami • who • w |
| WireGuard VPN | Alpine • CentOS 8 • Debian 10 • Firewall • Ubuntu 20.04 |
my favorite :) updates every second….
top -d 1Nice looking site; useful and clear information. Good job!
The only problem with the uptime command is that it isn’t always obvious what units of measure to the time it has been up. Just a bit confusing for those new to it, especially those from the Windoze world trying to come over to Linux. Just fleshing out the units (up 5 hours:54 minutes (days:hours:minutes)) on this would certainly help in bringing more over, especially if we can get into the man&info pages.
$ uptime
07:55:56 up 3 days, 17:37, 6 users, load average: 0.04, 0.06, 0.01
$
by default it will give how many days the OS is up, and how many hours:mins.
if it less than 1 day, it will give only hours:mins.
Wonderful.
what is the command for checking how many bites are already downloaded in your server
Hi,
How do I get only time information excluding other load information
Thanks,
Ravi.
# 1. run Command
# 2. strip unneeded leading data
# 3. check if the uptime is greater than 24 hours
# 4. make the output human readable
# 5. trim any leading space
uptime | \ sed s/^.*up// | \ awk -F, '{ if ( $3 ~ /user/ ) { print $1 $2 } else { print $1 }}' | \ sed -e 's/:/\ hours\ /' -e 's/ min//' -e 's/$/\ minutes/' | \ sed 's/^ *//'For people who want to get uptime within a C program I would suggest having a look at sysinfo() too…
nice and so useful
thank you
How can i know uptime of a server machine without logging in it ?? Is there any way?
Hello Buddies , plz specify whats the value ‘4:29’ in the above output.
@Kunal It’s 4 hours and 29mins. So from the output the server uptime is 13 days, 4 hours and 31 mins.
thanks for this!
Did you see the output within one hour of startup? Is it, e.g. 0:15, :15 or 15 for the 15 minutes after startup?
On most systems you can do cat /proc/uptime if you’re only interested in the uptime. The first number is how many seconds the system has been up for, and the second number is how many seconds it’s spent idle.
Tuptime is a uptime with steroids, nice tool for getting uptime, downtime and other interesting stuff:
https://github.com/rfrail3/tuptime
How can i see the only up time without any other information is there Any command to know only the Uptime i mean to say the if i issue a command it should print 21:54:11 up 13 days, 4:29
A server is up. wht does it mean ?
useful