lastlog - examine lastlog file

lastlog formats and prints the contents of the last login log /var/log/lastlog file. The login-name, port, and last login time will be printed. The default (no flags) causes lastlog entries to be printed, sorted by their order in /etc/passwd.

The options which apply to the lastlog command are:

-b, --before DAYS

Print only lastlog records older than DAYS.

-h, --help

Display help message and exit.

-t, --time DAYS

Print the lastlog records more recent than DAYS.

-u, --user LOGIN

Print the lastlog record for user with specified LOGIN only.

The -t flag overrides the use of -u.

If the user has never logged in the message ** Never logged in** will be displayed instead of the port and time.

The lastlog file is a database which contains info on the last login of each user. You should not rotate it. It is a sparse file, so its size on the disk is much smaller than the one shown by "ls -l" (which can indicate a really big file if you have a high UID). You can display its real size with "ls -s".

/var/log/lastlog

lastlog logging file

Large gaps in uid numbers will cause the lastlog program to run longer with no output to the screen (i.e. if mmdf=800 and last uid=170, program will appear to hang as it processes uid 171-799).

Julianne Frances Haugh (jockgrrl@ix.netcom.com)

Phillip Street