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WTMPDB

Section: wtmpdb (8)
Updated: 10/20/2025
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NAME

wtmpdb - display login, logout and reboot information  

SYNOPSIS

wtmpdb COMMAND [option...]
 

DESCRIPTION

wtmpdb

displays the content of the wtmp login and boot times database and provides sub-commands for system scripts to create boot and shutdown entries and otherwise manipulate the wtmp database.

This command is year 2038-safe and uses sqlite3 to store the information.  

COMMANDS

The following commands are understood:

last [option...] [username...] [tty...]

wtmpdb last goes through the /var/log/wtmp.db database (or the database designated by the -f option) and displays a list of of all users logged in and logged out. The output can be restricted to different patterns via various options. If one or more usernames and/or ttys are given wtmpdb last will only show the entries matching those arguments.

The login and logout times of the special user reboot are the boot and shutdown times of the system.

-a, --hostlast

Display hostnames in the last column.

-d, --dns

Translate IP addresses into a hostname.

-f, --file FILE

Use FILE as wtmpdb database.

-F, --fulltimes

Display full times and dates.

-i, --ip

Translate hostnames to IP addresses.

-n, --limit N, -N

Display only the first N entries.

-p, --present TIME

Display who was present at TIME.

-R, --nohostname

Don't display any hostname or IP address.

-S, --service

Display PAM service used to login.

-s, --since TIME

Print only records more recent than TIME.

-t, --until TIME

Print only records until TIME.

-w, --fullnames

Display full IP addresses and user and domain names.

-x, --system

Display system shutdown entries.

--time-format FORMAT

Display timestamps in the specified FORMAT. The format can be notime, short, full, or iso. notime will not display times at all, short is the default option, full will display the full times and dates, and iso will display times in ISO-8601 format.

TIME must be in the format "YYYYMMDDHHMMSS", "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS", "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM", "YYYY-MM-DD", "HH:MM:SS", "HH:MM", "now", "today", "yesterday" or "tomorrow" (time will be set to 00:00:00 if not specified; the date to today's).

boot [option...]

wtmpdb boot writes system boot times to the /var/log/wtmp.db database.

-f, --file FILE

Use FILE as wtmpdb database.

-q, --quiet

Don't print informative messages.

shutdown [option...]

wtmpdb shutdown writes system shutdown requests to the /var/log/wtmp.db database.

-f, --file FILE

Use FILE as wtmpdb database.

rotate [option...]

wtmpdb rotate exports old log entries to the /var/log/wtmp_yyyymmmdd.db database and removes these entries from the original one.

-f, --file FILE

Use FILE as wtmpdb database. The exported DB file will be on the same location.

-d, --days DAYS

Entries will be exported which are older than DAYS days. Default is 60 days.

import [option...] file...

wtmpdb import imports legacy wtmp log files to the /var/log/wtmp.db database.

-f, --file FILE

Use FILE as wtmpdb database.

global options

-h, --help

Display help message and exit.

-v, --version

Print version number and exit.
 

FILES

/var/log/wtmp.db

Wtmpdb logging database file

/var/lib/wtmpdb/wtmp.db

Symbolic link from the upstream location to the above database file
 

SEE ALSO

pam_wtmpdb(8),  

AUTHOR

wtmpdb was written by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@suse.com>.

 

Index

NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
COMMANDS
FILES
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
This document was created by man2html, using the manual pages.
Time: 11:48:52 GMT, September 14, 2026