AC(1)                                                         General Commands Manual                                                        AC(1)

NAME

       ac -  print statistics about users' connect time

SYNOPSIS

       ac     [ -d | --daily-totals ] [ -y | --print-year ]
              [ -p | --individual-totals ] [ people ]
              [ -f | --file filename ] [ -a | --all-days ]
              [ --complain ] [ --reboots ] [ --supplants ]
              [ --timewarps ] [ --compatibility ]
              [ --tw-leniency num ] [ --tw-suspicious num ]
              [ -z | --print-zeros ] [ --debug ]
              [ -V | --version ] [ -h | --help ]

DESCRIPTION

       ac prints out a report of connect time (in hours) based on the logins/logouts in the current wtmp file.  A total is also printed out.

       The  accounting  file wtmp is maintained by init(8) and login(1).  Neither ac nor login creates the wtmp if it doesn't exist, no accounting
       is done.  To begin accounting, create the file with a length of zero.

       NOTE:  The wtmp file can get really big, really fast.  You might want to trim it every once and a while.

       GNU ac works nearly the same u*x ac, though it's a little smarter in several ways.  You should therefore expect differences in  the  output
       of GNU ac and the output of ac's on other systems.  Use the command info accounting to get additional information.

OPTIONS

       -d, --daily-totals
              Print totals for each day rather than just one big total at the end.  The output looks like this:
                      Jul  3  total     1.17
                      Jul  4  total     2.10
                      Jul  5  total     8.23
                      Jul  6  total     2.10
                      Jul  7  total     0.30
       -p, --individual-totals
              Print time totals for each user in addition to the usual everything-lumped-into-one value.  It looks like:
                      bob       8.06
                      goff      0.60
                      maley     7.37
                      root      0.12
                      total    16.15
       people Print out the sum total of the connect time used by all of the users included in people.  Note that people is a space separated list
              of valid user names; wildcards are not allowed.
       -f, --file filename
              Read from the file filename instead of the system's wtmp file.
       --complain
              When the wtmp file has a problem (a time-warp, missing record, or whatever), print out an appropriate error.
       --reboots
              Reboot records are NOT written at the time of a reboot, but when the system restarts; therefore, it is impossible  to  know  exactly
              when  the  reboot occurred.  Users may have been logged into the system at the time of the reboot, and many ac's automatically count
              the time between the login and the reboot record against the user (even though all of that time shouldn't be, perhaps, if the system
              is  down  for a long time, for instance).  If you want to count this time, include the flag.  *For vanilla ac compatibility, include
              this flag.*
       --supplants
              Sometimes, a logout record is not written for a specific terminal, so the time that the last user accrued cannot be calculated.   If
              you  want  to include the time from the user's login to the next login on the terminal (though probably incorrect), include this you
              want to include the time from the user's login to the next login on the terminal (though probably  incorrect),  include  this  flag.
              *For vanilla ac compatibility, include this flag.*
       --timewarps
              Sometimes,  entries  in a wtmp file will suddenly jump back into the past without a clock change record occurring.  It is impossible
              to know how long a user was logged in when this occurs.  If you want to count the time between the login and the time  warp  against
              the user, include this flag.  *For vanilla ac compatibility, include this flag.*
       --compatibility
              This is shorthand for typing out the three above options.
       -a, --all-days
              If  we're printing daily totals, print a record for every day instead of skipping intervening days where there is no login activity.
              Without this flag, time accrued during those intervening days gets listed under the next day where there is login activity.
       --tw-leniency num
              Set the time warp leniency to num seconds.  Records in wtmp files might be slightly out of order (most notably when two logins occur
              within  a one-second period - the second one gets written first).  By default, this value is set to 60.  If the program notices this
              problem, time is not assigned to users unless the --timewarps flag is used.
       --tw-suspicious num
              Set the time warp suspicious value to num seconds.  If two records in the wtmp file are farther than this number of  seconds  apart,
              there  is  a  problem with the wtmp file (or your machine hasn't been used in a year).  If the program notices this problem, time is
              not assigned to users unless the --timewarps flag is used.
       -y, --print-year
              Print year when displaying dates.
       -z, --print-zeros
              If a total for any category (save the grand total) is zero, print it.  The default is to suppress printing.
       --debug
              Print verbose internal information.
       -V, --version
              Print the version number of ac to standard output and quit.
       -h, --help
              Prints the usage string and default locations of system files to standard output and exits.
FILES

       wtmp
              The system wide login record file. See wtmp(5) for further details.
AUTHOR

       The GNU accounting utilities were written by Noel Cragg <noel@gnu.ai.mit.edu>. The man page was adapted from the accounting texinfo page by
       Susan Kleinmann <sgk@sgk.tiac.net>.
SEE ALSO

       login(1), wtmp(5), init(8), sa(8)

                                                                  2010 August 16                                                             AC(1)