UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

it is almost impossible to expand, as the column with is fixed.

one possible workaround is to, check which file the w or who is referring, and try to read that file. In my case it is /var/run/utmp and which seems to be a binary file, but readable using 'less' command. try to do the same.... or refer your man page to FILES section.

On my (non-BSD) system "man utmp" shows that the authors have allowed a field size of 16 characters to hold the remote host name in the "utmp" file used by "who".

It is unusual to have hyphens in the name of a host. Is it what the host is really called ? Do you get the same answer from "nslookup" on the IP address ?


@thegeek
In most version of unix the "utmp" and "wtmp" files are readable with the "fwtmp" command - but in this case I don't think that it will help.