This article will show you useful ways to find information about users on a Linux system. Here we’ll describe commands to get a user’s account details, show login details as well what users are doing on the system.
If you want to add or create users in Linux, use the useradd command, and to modify or change any attributes of an already created user account, use the usermod command via the command line.
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We’ll start by looking at 12 useful commands to find a user’s account information, then proceed to explain commands to view login details in the Linux system.
Table of Contents
- 1. id Command – Show User and Group IDs
- 2. groups Command – View User Group Memberships
- 3. finger Command – Show User Information
- 4. getent Command – Fetch User Info from System Database
- 5. grep Command – Search for Patterns or Specific Text in Files
- 6. lslogins Command – Display User Information in Linux
- 7. users Command – List Current Logged-In Users on Linux
- 8. who Command – Show Information Of Currently Logged-In Users
- 9. w Command – Show Currently Logged-In User Activity
- 10. last Command – Show Most Recent Login Session
- 11. lastb Command – Show Failed Login Attempts
- 12. lastlog Command – List User Login Information
1. id Command – Show User and Group IDs
Theidis a simple command line utility for displaying a real and effective user and group IDs identity information for the current user or specified user.
$ id tecmint
View User and Group ID’s of Current User
2. groups Command – View User Group Memberships
Thegroupscommand is used to display the group memberships for a user. It lists all the groups that a user belongs to, including both primary and supplementary groups.
$ groups tecmint
Check User Groups in Linux
3. finger Command – Show User Information
Thefingercommand is used to search for information about a user on Linux, which includes detailed information about a specific user or a list of users, including their login name, real name, terminal, idle time, login time, and other relevant details.
Thefingercommand doesn’t come pre-installed on many Linux distributions, you need to install it using your default package manager as shown.
$ sudo apt install finger [OnDebian, Ubuntu and Mint] $ sudo yum install finger [OnRHEL/CentOS/FedoraandRocky/AlmaLinux] $ sudo emerge -a sys-apps/finger [OnGentoo Linux] $ sudo apk add finger [OnAlpine Linux] $ sudo pacman -S finger [OnArch Linux] $ sudo zypper install finger [OnOpenSUSE]
It shows a user’s real name; home directory; shell; login: name, time; and so much more as shown below.
$ finger tecmint
Check User Info in Linux
4. getent Command – Fetch User Info from System Database
Thegetentcommand is used to retrieve information from various databases, including the system user and group databases. It can be used to retrieve information about users, groups, hosts, networks, protocols, and other system entities that are stored in database files like/etc/passwd,/etc/group,/etc/hosts, etc.
To get a user’s account details, use thepasswddatabase and theusernameas follows.
$ getent passwd tecmint
Fetch User Info in Linux
5. grep Command – Search for Patterns or Specific Text in Files
The grep command is a powerful command used to search for patterns or specific text in files. It allows you to filter and extract lines from text based on matching patterns. The name “grep” stands for “Global Regular Expression Print“.
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You can usegrepto find information about a specific user from the system accounts file:/etc/passwdas shown below.
$ grep -i tecmint /etc/passwd
Grep – Fetch User Info in Linux
6. lslogins Command – Display User Information in Linux
Thelsloginscommand shows information about known users in the system, which typically includes details such as the username, UID (User ID), GID (Group ID), home directory, shell, last login time, and more, depending on the options used and the system configuration.
$ lslogins -u tecmint $ lslogins -u
Display User Info in Linux
7. users Command – List Current Logged-In Users on Linux
Theuserscommand is used to display the list of currently logged-in users on the Linux system.
$ users
Show Current Logged in Users in Linux
8. who Command – Show Information Of Currently Logged-In Users
Thewhocommand is used to display users who are logged on to the system, including the username, terminal, login time, and remote host from which the user is logged in.
$ who -u
Show Current Logged-in Users
9. w Command – Show Currently Logged-In User Activity
Thewcommand shows a summary of the currently logged-in users and their activity, which displays the login session, including the username, terminal, login time, idle time, JCPU (total CPU time used by all processes), PCPU (CPU time used by the current process), and the command or process running on the terminal.
$ w
Show Currently Logged-In User Activity
10. last Command – Show Most Recent Login Session
Thelastcommand displays a list of the most recent login sessions, which includes information about the users who have logged in, their login times, and the terminals or remote hosts they used for login.
$ last
Show Most Recent Login Sessions
To show all the users who were present at a specified time, use the-poption as follows.
$ last -ap now
List Most Recent User Logins
11. lastb Command – Show Failed Login Attempts
Thelastbcommand is used to display a list of the last failed login attempts on the system. It reads from the system log file that records failed login attempts, typically stored in /var/log/btmp.
$ lastb
Show Failed Login Attempts in Linux
12. lastlog Command – List User Login Information
lastlog commandis used to find the details of the most recent login information for all users or a specific user on the system, which provides details about the last login time and location for each user.
$ lastlog OR $ lastlog -u tecmint
List User Login Information
That’s it! If you know any other command-line trick or command to view user account details do share with us.
