finger Command

Purpose

Shows user information. This command is the same as the f command.

Syntax

{ finger | f }[[ -b][ -h] [ -l][ -p]]|[ -i][ -q][ -s][ -w]]

[ -f][ -m][ User| User @Host| @Host]

Description

The /usr/bin/finger command displays information about the users who are logged in to a host. The format of the output varies with the options for the information presented.

Default Format

The default format includes the following items:

• Login name
• Full username
• Terminal name
• Write status (an * (asterisk) before the terminal name indicates that write permission is denied)

For each user on the host, the default information list also includes, if known, the following items:

• Idle time (Idle time is minutes if it is a single integer, hours, and minutes if a : (Colon) is present, or days and hours if a "d" is present.)
• Login time
• Site-specific information

The site-specific information is retrieved from the gecos field in the /etc/passwd file. The gecos field can contain the Full username followed by a comma or / (slash character). All information that follows the comma or slash character is displayed by the finger command with the Site-specific information.

Longer Format

A longer format is used by the finger command whenever a list of users names is given. (Account names as well as first and last names of users are accepted.) This format is multiline, and includes all the information described previously along with the following:

• Users $HOME directory
• User's login shell
• Contents of the .plan file in the users $HOME directory
• Contents of the .project file in the users $HOME directory

The finger command can also be used to look up users on a remote system. The format is to specify the user as User@Host. If you omit the username, the finger command provides the standard format listing on the remote system.

Create the .plan and .project files that use your favorite text editor and place the files in your $HOME directory. The finger command uses the toascii subroutine to convert characters outside the normal ASCII character range when displaying the contents of the .plan and .project files. The finger command displays a M- before each converted character.

When you specify users with the User parameter, you can specify either the users first name, last name, or account name. When you specify users, the finger command, at the specified host, returns information about those users only in long format.

For other information about the finger command, see "Installation of TCP/IP" in Networks and communication management.

Flags

Parameters

Examples

1. To get information about all users logged in to host alcatraz, enter:

   finger @alcatraz

   Information similar to the following is displayed:

   [alcatraz.austin.ibm.com]
   Login     Name        TTY Idle         When      Site Info
   brown    Bob Brown   console   2d   Mar 15 13:19
   smith    Susan Smith    pts0  11:   Mar 15 13:01
   jones    Joe Jones      tty0    3   Mar 15 13:01

   User brown is logged in at the console, user smith is logged in from pseudo teletype line pts0, and user jones is logged in from tty0.
2. To get more information about user brown at alcatraz, enter:

   finger brown@alcatraz

   Information similar to the following is displayed:

   Login name: brown
   Directory: /home/brown    Shell: /home/bin/xinit -L -n Startup
   On since May 8 07:13:49 on console
   No Plan.

3. To get information about user brown at a local host in a short form, enter:

   finger -q brown

   Information similar to the following is displayed:

   Login           TTY              When
   brown           pts/6            Mon Dec1710:58

Files