User Commands finger(1)
NAME
finger - display information about local and remote users
SYNOPSIS
finger [-bfhilmpqsw] [username]...
finger [-l]
[username@hostname 1 [@hostname 2 .. .@hostname n]...]finger [-l] [@hostname 1 [@hostname 2 .. .@hostname n]...]
DESCRIPTION
By default, the finger command displays in multi-column for-
mat the following information about each logged-in user:
o user name o user's full name o terminal name (prepended with a `*' (asterisk) ifwrite-permission is denied)
o idle time o login time o host name, if logged in remotely Idle time is in minutes if it is a single integer, in hours and minutes if a `:' (colon) is present, or in days and hours if a `d' is present. When one or more username arguments are given, more detailed information is given for each username specified, whether they are logged in or not. username must be that of a local user, and may be a first or last name, or an account name.Information is presented in multi-line format as follows:
o the user name and the user's full name o the user's home directory and login shell o time the user logged in if currently logged in, or the time the user last logged in; and the terminal or host from which the user logged in o last time the user received mail, and the last timeSunOS 5.11 Last change: 6 Nov 2000 1
User Commands finger(1)
the user read mailo the first line of the $HOME/.project file, if it
existso the contents of the $HOME/.plan file, if it exists
Note: when the comment (GECOS) field in /etc/passwd includesa comma, finger does not display the information following
the comma. If the arguments username@hostname1[@hostname2...@hostnamen] or @hostname1[@hostname2...@hostnamen] are used, the request is sent first to hostnamen and forwarded through eachhostnamen-1 to hostname1. The program uses the finger user
information protocol (see RFC 1288) to query that remote host for information about the named user (if username isspecified), or about each logged-in user. The information
displayed is server dependent.As required by RFC 1288, finger passes only printable, 7-bit
ASCII data. This behavior may be modified by a system administrator by using the PASS option in/etc/default/finger. Specifying PASS=low allows all charac-
ters less than decimal 32 ASCII. Specifying PASS=high allows all characters greater than decimal 126 ASCII. PASS=low,high or PASS=high,low allows both characters less than 32 and greater than 126 to pass through. OPTIONS The following options are supported, except that theusername@hostname form supports only the -l option:
-b Suppresses printing the user's home directory and
shell in a long format printout.-f Suppresses printing the header that is normally
printed in a non-long format printout.
-h Suppresses printing of the .project file in a long
format printout.-i Forces "idle" output format, which is similar to
short format except that only the login name, termi-
nal, login time, and idle time are printed.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 6 Nov 2000 2
User Commands finger(1)
-l Forces long output format.
-m Matches arguments only on user name (not first or
last name).-p Suppresses printing of the .plan file in a long for-
mat printout.-q Forces quick output format, which is similar to short
format except that only the login name, terminal, and login time are printed.-s Forces short output format.
-w Suppresses printing the full name in a short format
printout. FILES$HOME/.plan user's plan
$HOME/.project user's projects
/etc/default/finger finger options file
/etc/passwd password file /var/adm/lastlog time of last login /var/adm/utmpx accountingATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:SunOS 5.11 Last change: 6 Nov 2000 3
User Commands finger(1)
_______________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|________________________________|
| Availability | service/network/network-servers|
|_____________________________|________________________________|
SEE ALSO
passwd(1), who(1), whois(1), passwd(4), attributes(5) Zimmerman, D., The Finger User Information Protocol, RFC1288, Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Com-
puter Science (DIMACS), Rutgers University, December 1991. NOTESThe finger user information protocol limits the options that
may be used with the remote form of this command.SunOS 5.11 Last change: 6 Nov 2000 4