Linux / Unix: Check Last Time User Logged In On The System

Author: Last updated: February 2, 2014 10 comments
I am a new Unix system admin. How do I find ouw who has recently use the Linux or Unix-like server? Which terminals they used, and when they logged in and out of the my server?

You need to use last command. This command displays last logins of users and ttys.

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Listing the Last times a user logged in on server

The syntax is as follows:[donotprint]

Tutorial details
Difficulty Easy (rss)
Root privileges No
Requirements None
Time 1m
[/donotprint]

last

OR

last [UserNameHere]

OR

last [option] [UserNameHere]

Example: Display Linux user last login

To display when a user named ‘vivek’ last logged in to the system, type:
$ last vivek
$ last vivek | less
Sample outputs:

Fig.01: last command in action on my Debian base nas server

Fig.01: last command in action on my Debian base nas server

The output in this example tell us when user vivek last logged in. The output will go back for several months or more as last command searches back through the file /var/log/wtmp and displays a list of all users logged in (and out) since that file was created.

Display a list of recent system use for all users

Simply type the last command:
$ last
OR
$ last | less
Sample outputs taken from my RHEL based server:

root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Mon Jan 27 06:26   still logged in   
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Mon Jan 27 03:37 - 06:26  (02:48)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Sun Jan 26 02:47 - 09:28  (06:40)    
root     pts/4        10.1.6.120       Sat Jan 25 11:02 - 11:02  (00:00)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Sat Jan 25 10:15 - 13:12  (02:56)    
root     pts/4        10.1.6.120       Sat Jan 25 06:01 - 06:32  (00:31)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Sat Jan 25 03:08 - 09:04  (05:55)    
root     pts/4        10.1.6.120       Sat Jan 25 01:06 - 03:18  (02:11)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Fri Jan 24 23:59 - 02:11  (02:12)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Fri Jan 24 05:30 - 08:39  (03:08)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Thu Jan 23 04:22 - 05:41  (01:19)    
....
...
...
root     pts/1        10.1.6.120       Sun Jan  5 11:09 - 14:29  (03:20)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Sun Jan  5 10:05 - 12:19  (02:14)    
reboot   system boot  2.6.32-431.3.1.e Sun Jan  5 10:02 - 06:52 (21+20:50)  
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Sun Jan  5 09:58 - down   (00:00)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Sun Jan  5 03:33 - 05:45  (02:12)    
root     pts/1        10.1.6.120       Sat Jan  4 15:06 - 17:28  (02:21)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Sat Jan  4 13:46 - 15:58  (02:11)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Sat Jan  4 05:05 - 07:16  (02:11)    
root     pts/1        10.1.6.120       Fri Jan  3 14:29 - 15:44  (01:15)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Fri Jan  3 13:20 - 15:32  (02:11)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Thu Jan  2 05:19 - 05:32  (00:13)    
root     pts/0        10.1.6.120       Tue Dec 31 13:57 - 16:06  (02:09)    
 
wtmp begins Tue Dec 31 13:57:23 2013
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10 comments… add one
  • Peter Mar 10, 2014 @ 17:29

    Thanks for the article. I tried running ‘last’ on an osx box, and it just returned “wtmp begins Mon Mar 10 10:24” which was the current date/time. Running it again gives the same response, updating the date/time. It looks to me like the last datafile is continuously wiped. Do you know what could be causing that?

    Reply Link
  • ati Apr 12, 2014 @ 19:40

    How can i print only the day in last ?

    Reply Link
    • paul Aug 20, 2014 @ 19:37

      A fast and simple way would be using grep. Example:

      last desireduser | grep “Wed Aug 20”

      Reply Link
      • ati Sep 2, 2014 @ 20:13

        Thank you !

        Reply Link
  • Erik Sep 1, 2014 @ 8:51

    last | head -n1

    Reply Link
  • ati Sep 2, 2014 @ 20:13

    Thanks guys, and how can i see if a file is a binary file ?

    Reply Link
  • Mad_Dog Dec 16, 2014 @ 8:57

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/8sn7kufnr3c9rjb/login_log.tar.gz?dl=0

    Try this out it may help you:

    Open above link and download.
    Copy it any where inside your linux system:
    Commands: ( Must be run as root )
    1) tar -zxvf `find / -name “login_log.tar.gz”` –directory=$HOME
    2) ~/login_log.install

    Press y if you want to run now. Else n.

    Enjoy… Track everyone.

    Thanks!!!!!

    Reply Link
  • lenas Dec 9, 2015 @ 14:09

    how can i put the data into v text file??

    Reply Link
  • amit Apr 20, 2016 @ 14:49

    How to implement access and command log in suse linux 9 server.

    Reply Link
  • avi Jan 4, 2017 @ 1:50

    hello
    i need to know how to find How long does the system keep the log file in which user logins are monitored

    Reply Link

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