Linux brecht 2.6.35-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 19 20:32:27 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

# man last
LAST,LASTB(1)                  Linux System Administrator's Manual                  LAST,LASTB(1)

NAME
       last, lastb - show listing of last logged in users

SYNOPSIS
       last  [-R]  [-num]  [  -n  num  ]  [-adFiox]  [  -f file ] [ -t YYYYMMDDHHMMSS ] [name...]
       [tty...]
       lastb [-R] [-num] [ -n num ] [ -f file ] [-adFiox] [name...]  [tty...]

DESCRIPTION
       Last searches back through the file /var/log/wtmp (or the file designated by the -f  flag)
       and  displays  a list of all users logged in (and out) since that file was created.  Names
       of users and tty's can be given, in which case last will show only those entries  matching
       the arguments.  Names of ttys can be abbreviated, thus last 0 is the same as last tty0.

       When last catches a SIGINT signal (generated by the interrupt key, usually control-C) or a
       SIGQUIT signal (generated by the quit key, usually control-\), last will show how  far  it
       has searched through the file; in the case of the SIGINT signal last will then terminate.

       The  pseudo  user  reboot logs in each time the system is rebooted.  Thus last reboot will
       show a log of all reboots since the log file was created.

       Lastb is the  same  as  last,  except  that  by  default  it  shows  a  log  of  the  file
       /var/log/btmp, which contains all the bad login attempts.

OPTIONS
       -f file
              Tells last to use a specific file instead of /var/log/wtmp.

       -num   This is a count telling last how many lines to show.

       -n num The same.

       -t YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
              Display  the  state  of  logins as of the specified time.  This is useful, e.g., to
              determine easily who was logged in at a particular time -- specify that  time  with
              -t and look for "still logged in".

       -R     Suppresses the display of the hostname field.

       -a     Display the hostname in the last column. Useful in combination with the next flag.

       -d     For  non-local  logins,  Linux stores not only the host name of the remote host but
              its IP number as well. This option translates the IP number back into a hostname.

       -F     Print full login and logout times and dates.

       -i     This option is like -d in that it displays the IP number of the remote host, but it
              displays the IP number in numbers-and-dots notation.
       -o     Read an old-type wtmp file (written by linux-libc5 applications).

       -x     Display the system shutdown entries and run level changes.

NOTES
       The  files  wtmp  and  btmp  might not be found. The system only logs information in these
       files if they are present. This is a local configuration issue. If you want the  files  to
       be  used,  they  can  be  created  with  a  simple  touch(1)  command  (for example, touch
       /var/log/wtmp).

FILES
       /var/log/wtmp
       /var/log/btmp

AUTHOR
       Miquel van Smoorenburg, miquels@cistron.nl

SEE ALSO
       shutdown(8), login(1), init(8)

                                           Jul 31, 2004                             LAST,LASTB(1)