On Unix-like operating systems, the w command is a quick way to see who is logged on and what they are doing.

This page covers the Linux version of w.

Description

w displays information about the users currently on the machine and their processes.

  • Description
  • Syntax
  • Environment
  • Files
  • Examples
  • Related commands
  • Linux commands help

The header of the output shows (in this order): the current time, how long the system has been running, how many users are currently logged on, and the system load averages for the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes.

The following entries are displayed for each user: login name, the tty name, the remote host they are logged in from, the amount of time they are logged in, their idle time, JCPU, PCPU, and the command line of their current process.

The JCPU time is the time used by all processes attached to the tty. It does not include past background jobs, but does include currently running background jobs.

The PCPU time is the time used by the current process, named in the “what” field.

Syntax

w [options] user […]

Options

Environment

Files

Examples

w

Running the w command with no arguments shows a list of logged on users and their processes as shown below.

w hope

Show information for the user named hope.

  • How to view and count users on a Linux system.

free — Display the amount of free and used memory.ps — Report the status of a process or processes.top — Display a sortable, continually-updated list of processes.uptime — Display information about how long the system has been running.who — Report which users are logged in to the system.