finger(C)
finger --
find information about users
Syntax
finger
[
-bfilpqsw
] [ login1 [ login2
...
] ]
Description
By default
finger
lists the login name, full name, terminal name and write status
(as a ``'' before the terminal name if write permission is denied),
idle time, login time, office location, and phone number
(if they are known) for each current user.
(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.)
A longer format also exists and is used by
finger
whenever a list of names is given.
(Account names as well as
first and last names of users are accepted.)
This is a multi-line format; it includes all the information
described above as well as the user's home
directory and login shell,
any plan which the person has placed in the file
.plan
in their home
directory, and the project on which they are working from the file
.project
which is also in the home directory.
finger
options are:
-b-
Briefer long output format of users.
-f-
Suppresses the printing of the header line (short format).
-i-
Quick list of users with idle times.
-l-
Forces long output format.
-p-
Suppresses printing of the
.plan
files.
-q-
Quick list of users.
-s-
Forces short output format.
-w-
Forces narrow format list of specified users.
Examples
Entries in the /etc/passwd file have the following format:
login name:user password(coded):user ID:group ID:comments:home
directory:login shell
The comment field corresponds to what appears in the finger output.
For example, in the following /etc/passwd entry:
blf:x:47:5:Brian Foster, Mission, x70, 767-1234
:/u/blf:/bin/sh
the comment field, ``Brian Foster, Mission, x70, 767-1234,''
contains data for the ``In Real Life,'' ``Office,''
and ``Home Phone'' columns of the finger listings.
Limitations
Only the first line of the .project file is printed.
Idle time is computed as the elapsed time since any
activity on the given terminal. This includes
previous invocations of finger
which may have modified the terminal's corresponding
device file /dev/tty??.
Files
/etc/utmp-
who file
/etc/passwd-
user names, offices, phones, login directories, and shells
$HOME/.plan-
plans
$HOME/.project-
projects
See also
w(C),
who(C)
Standards conformance
finger is not part of any currently supported standard; it
was developed at the University of California at Berkeley and is
used by permission.
© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003