w

w linux command cheatsheet by Thamizhiniyan C S

Introduction

This command is used to show who is logged on and what they are doing.

w [options] [user]

Using the w command without any additional options produces an output similar to this:

The first line of the output shows system information:

System time: The current system time.
Up time: How long the system has logged in.
Number of users: The number of users currently logged in.
Average system load: The average number of jobs running on the system in the last 1, 5, and 15 minutes, respectively.

The second line shows user and process information:

USER: The names of currently logged in users.
TTY: The name of the terminal the user is logging in from.
FROM: The name or IP address of the terminal or host the user is logging in from.
LOGIN@: The time the user logged in, in a 24-hour format.
IDLE: The time since the user last used the terminal; displays ?xdm? if the user is currently active.
JCPU: The total run time of all system processes attached to the user's terminal.
PCPU: Elapsed time for the user's current process.
WHAT: The name of the user's current process.

Flag Description

Flag	Description
`-h, --no-header`	Print output without the header.
`-u, --no-current`	Ignore username when calculating current process times and load.
`-s, --short`	Print output in the short format.
`-f, --from`	Toggle printing the FROM (remote hostname) field.
`--help`	Display help text.
`-i, --ip-addr`	Replace the hostname in the FROM field with the IP address.
`-V, --version`	Display current command version.
`-o, --old-style`	Print old-style output (blank space for idle times shorter than 1 minute).

-h, --no-header

Print output without the header.

-u, --no-current

Ignore username when calculating current process times and load.

-s, --short

Print output in the short format.

-f, --from

Toggle printing the FROM (remote hostname) field.

--help

Display help text.

-i, --ip-addr

Replace the hostname in the FROM field with the IP address.

-V, --version

Display current command version.

-o, --old-style

Print old-style output (blank space for idle times shorter than 1 minute).

Command Description

Command	Description
`w -s`	Display the short format version of the w command output.
`w -h`	List the w command output without printing the header.
`w -u`	Ignore usernames when calculating current process and CPU times.
`w -V`	Check the current version of the w command.
`w -i`	Display the user's IP address in the FROM field.
`w -o`	Display the output in the old style, leaving blank spaces for short idle times.
`w -f`	Toggle the FROM field in the w command output.
`w [username]`	Display the w command output for a specific user.
`w --help`	Display all the available options for the w command.

w -s

Display the short format version of the w command output.

w -h

List the w command output without printing the header.

w -u

Ignore usernames when calculating current process and CPU times.

w -V

Check the current version of the w command.

w -i

Display the user's IP address in the FROM field.

w -o

Display the output in the old style, leaving blank spaces for short idle times.

w -f

Toggle the FROM field in the w command output.

w [username]

Display the w command output for a specific user.

w --help

Display all the available options for the w command.

Last updated 3 months ago