


      FINGER(1)                   (bsd 4.2)                   FINGER(1)



      NAME
           finger - user information lookup program

      SYNTAX
           finger [ options ] name ...

      DESCRIPTION
           By default finger lists the login name, full name, terminal
           name and write status (as a '*' before the terminal name if
           write permission is denied), idle time, login time, and
           office location and phone number (if they are known) for
           each current UNIX user.  (Idle time is minutes if it is a
           single integer, hours and minutes if a ':' is present, or
           days and hours if a 'd' is present.)

           A longer format also exists and is used by finger whenever a
           list of peoples names is given.  (Account names as well as
           first and last names of users are accepted.) This format is
           multi-line, and includes all the information described above
           as well as the user's home directory and login shell, any
           plan which the person has placed in the file .plan in their
           home directory, and the project on which they are working
           from the file .project also in the home directory.

           Finger options include:

           -m   Match arguments only on user name.

           -l   Force long output format.

           -p   Suppress printing of the .plan files

           -s   Force short output format.

      FILES
           /etc/utmp           who file
           /etc/passwd         for users names, offices, ...
           /usr/adm/lastlog    last login times
           ~/.plan             plans
           ~/.project          projects

      SEE ALSO
           w(1), who(1)

      BUGS
           Only the first line of the .project file is printed.

           The encoding of the gcos field is UCB dependent - it knows
           that an office `197MC' is `197M Cory Hall', and that `529BE'
           is `529B Evans Hall'.

           A user information data base is in the works and will



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      FINGER(1)                   (bsd 4.2)                   FINGER(1)



           radically alter the way the information that finger uses is
           stored.  Finger will require extensive modification when
           this is implemented.




















































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