consumer login time with the ac command

Whereas not a really well-known Linux command, ac can present very helpful stats on consumer login time. In its easiest kind, it’ll present you ways a lot time customers have spent on the system within the time interval coated by the wtmp file. All you must kind is “ac” to get a determine displaying total login time for all customers.

$ ac
        complete     8360.60

The determine above signifies that customers spent a complete of 8,360.6 hours on the system. Wanting on the wtmp file with the who command, we are able to see that the saved logins began on June sixth – just a little greater than 6 months earlier.

$ who /var/log/wtmp | head -2
shs      tty2         2022-06-06 16:00 (tty2)
shs      pts/1        2022-06-06 16:23 (192.168.0.12)

To take a look at the instances by consumer, add the -p (individuals) argument.

$ ac -p
        popeye                            1081.10
        nemo                              2301.70
        shark                              801.00
        shs                               4176.80
        complete     8360.6

To take a look at each day login totals, you need to use the ac -d (day) command. Add a grep command in the event you solely wish to see login instances for one month.

$ ac -d | grep Oct | head -11
Oct  1  complete       46.21
Oct  2  complete       55.09
Oct  3  complete       34.50
Oct  4  complete       69.48
Oct  5  complete       50.73
Oct  6  complete       44.85
Oct  7  complete       25.05
Oct  8  complete       74.49
Oct  9  complete       44.88
Oct 10  complete       34.28
Oct 11  complete       38.36

Piping the output of the ac -d command to the head command is one other option to see how far again the wtmp file goes.

$ ac -d | head -1
Jun  6  complete       82.92

You can too pipe the ac output to the tail command to see the newest days. This offers the present day in addition to earlier days within the month.

$ ac -d | tail -10
Nov  1  complete      121.79
Nov  2  complete       24.86
Nov  3  complete       25.75
Nov  4  complete       24.63
Nov  5  complete       25.03
Nov  7  complete       52.97
Nov  8  complete       26.86
Nov  9  complete       27.66
Nov 10  complete       24.56
In the present day   complete       14.91

If in case you have wtmp knowledge from another time interval or system saved in a file, you possibly can run an ac command in opposition to that file like this:

$ ac -f /var/log/Jupiter
        complete     5434.7

The ac -h (assist) command will present a abstract of the command’s many choices.

$ ac -h

Utilization: ac [OPTION] ...

OPTIONS:
  -d, --daily-totals        Print totals for every day
  -p, --individual-totals   Print time totals for every consumer
  -f, --file  <file>         Learn from  <file>
  --complain                Print errors for no matter drawback
  --reboots                 Depend the time between login and reboot
  --supplants               Depend the time between logins on the terminal
  --timewarps               Depend the time between login and time warp
  --compatibility           Shortcut for --reboots --supplants --timewarps
  -a, --all-days            Don't skip days with out login exercise
  --tw-leniency  <worth>     Set the time warp leniency  <worth> in seconds
  --tw-suspicious  <worth>   Set the time warp suspicious  <worth> in seconds
  --print-year              Print yr when displaying dates
  --print-zeros             Do not suppress zeros in class totals
  --debug                   Print verbose inside data
  -V, --version             Present model and exit
  -h, --help                Present assist and exit

The system’s default login accounting file is /var/log/wtmp. Whereas the ac command’s summaries are typically extra helpful, you possibly can view each entry in that file in the event you see the necessity. Use the who /var/log/wtmp command as proven under. Piping its output to the extra command will assist you to slowly transfer by means of the small print and get a really feel for a way a lot and the way typically the actual system is getting used.

$ who /var/log/wtmp | extra
shs      pts/1        2022-06-07 06:40 (192.168.0.6)
shs      pts/2        2022-06-07 08:26 (192.168.0.12)
shark    pts/3        2022-06-07 09:00 (192.168.0.12)
nemo     pts/2        2022-06-07 10:09 (192.168.0.11)
nemo     pts/2        2022-06-07 11:05 (192.168.0.11)
nemo     pts/2        2022-06-07 12:12 (192.168.0.6)
shs      pts/2        2022-06-07 13:50 (192.168.0.12)
nemo     pts/2        2022-06-07 14:15 (192.168.0.11)
shs      pts/1        2022-06-06 16:23 (192.168.0.12)
shs      tty2         2022-06-06 16:00 (tty2)
shs      pts/1        2022-06-06 17:32 (192.168.0.12)
shs      tty2         2022-06-06 17:17 (tty2)
shs      tty2         2022-06-06 17:21 (tty2)
shs      pts/1        2022-06-06 18:35 (192.168.0.6)
shark    pts/2        2022-06-07 18:26 (192.168.0.6)

Wrap-up

The ac command makes data saved within the wtmp file extra accessible. If you wish to know the way a lot time customers spend logged right into a system or how typically they log in, it’s simply what you want. Probably standing for “accounting”, the ac command means that you can view knowledge within the wtmp file in a number of very helpful methods.