[unix-history] / usr / src / usr.bin / w / w.1

.\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.  The Berkeley software License Agreement
.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
.\"
.\"	@(#)w.1	6.1 (Berkeley) %G%
.\"
.TH W 1 ""
.UC 4
.SH NAME
w \- who is on and what they are doing
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B w
[
.B \-h
] [
.B \-s
] [ user ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I W
prints a summary of the current activity on the system,
including what each user is doing.
The heading line shows the current time of day,
how long the system has been up,
the number of users logged into the system,
and the load averages.
The load average numbers give the number of jobs in the run queue
averaged over 1, 5 and 15 minutes.
.PP
The fields output are:
the users login name,
the name of the tty the user is on,
the time of day the user logged on,
the number of minutes since the user last typed anything,
the CPU time used by all processes and their children on that terminal,
the CPU time used by the currently active processes,
the name and arguments of the current process.
.PP
The
.B \-h
flag suppresses the heading.
The
.B \-s
flag asks for a short form of output.
In the short form, the tty is abbreviated, the login time and cpu times
are left off, as are the arguments to commands.
.B \-l
gives the long output, which is the default.
.PP
If a
.I user
name is included,
the output will be restricted to that user.
.SH FILES
.ta 1i
/etc/utmp
.br
/dev/kmem
.br
/dev/drum
.SH "SEE ALSO"
who(1), finger(1), ps(1)
.SH AUTHOR
Mark Horton
.SH BUGS
The notion of the ``current process'' is muddy.
The current algorithm is ``the highest numbered process on
the terminal that is not ignoring interrupts,
or, if there is none, the highest numbered process on the terminal''.
This fails, for example, in critical sections of programs
like the shell and editor,
or when faulty programs running in the background
fork and fail to ignore interrupts.
(In cases where no process can be found,
.I w
prints ``\-''.)
.PP
The CPU time is only an estimate, in particular, if someone leaves a
background process running after logging out, the person currently
on that terminal is ``charged'' with the time.
.PP
Background processes are not shown, even though they account for
much of the load on the system.
.PP
Sometimes processes, typically those in the background, are
printed with null or garbaged arguments.
In these cases, the name of the command is printed in parentheses.
.PP
W does not know about the new conventions for detection of background jobs.
It will sometimes find a background job instead of the right one.
Commit	Line	Data
89124ab1 KM	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California.
	2	.\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement
	3	.\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
	4	.\"
2c1ecc2d	5	.\" @(#)w.1 6.1 (Berkeley) %G%
89124ab1	6	.\"
2c1ecc2d	7	.TH W 1 ""
89124ab1 KM	8	.UC 4
	9	.SH NAME
	10	w \- who is on and what they are doing
	11	.SH SYNOPSIS
	12	.B w
	13	[
	14	.B \-h
	15	] [
	16	.B \-s
	17	] [ user ]
	18	.SH DESCRIPTION
	19	.I W
	20	prints a summary of the current activity on the system,
	21	including what each user is doing.
	22	The heading line shows the current time of day,
	23	how long the system has been up,
	24	the number of users logged into the system,
	25	and the load averages.
	26	The load average numbers give the number of jobs in the run queue
	27	averaged over 1, 5 and 15 minutes.
	28	.PP
	29	The fields output are:
	30	the users login name,
	31	the name of the tty the user is on,
	32	the time of day the user logged on,
	33	the number of minutes since the user last typed anything,
	34	the CPU time used by all processes and their children on that terminal,
	35	the CPU time used by the currently active processes,
	36	the name and arguments of the current process.
	37	.PP
	38	The
	39	.B \-h
	40	flag suppresses the heading.
	41	The
	42	.B \-s
	43	flag asks for a short form of output.
	44	In the short form, the tty is abbreviated, the login time and cpu times
	45	are left off, as are the arguments to commands.
	46	.B \-l
	47	gives the long output, which is the default.
	48	.PP
	49	If a
	50	.I user
	51	name is included,
	52	the output will be restricted to that user.
	53	.SH FILES
	54	.ta 1i
	55	/etc/utmp
	56	.br
	57	/dev/kmem
	58	.br
	59	/dev/drum
	60	.SH "SEE ALSO"
	61	who(1), finger(1), ps(1)
	62	.SH AUTHOR
	63	Mark Horton
	64	.SH BUGS
	65	The notion of the ``current process'' is muddy.
	66	The current algorithm is ``the highest numbered process on
	67	the terminal that is not ignoring interrupts,
	68	or, if there is none, the highest numbered process on the terminal''.
	69	This fails, for example, in critical sections of programs
	70	like the shell and editor,
	71	or when faulty programs running in the background
72	fork and fail to ignore interrupts.
73	(In cases where no process can be found,
74	.I w
75	prints ``\-''.)
76	.PP
77	The CPU time is only an estimate, in particular, if someone leaves a
78	background process running after logging out, the person currently
79	on that terminal is ``charged'' with the time.
80	.PP
81	Background processes are not shown, even though they account for
82	much of the load on the system.
83	.PP
84	Sometimes processes, typically those in the background, are
85	printed with null or garbaged arguments.
86	In these cases, the name of the command is printed in parentheses.
87	.PP
88	W does not know about the new conventions for detection of background jobs.
89	It will sometimes find a background job instead of the right one.