How do I List Unix users?

List Logged In Unix Users
Unix has many commands to list users who are logged in.


These commands include `w`, `who`, and `users`:


$ w
9:51PM up 99 days, 5:39, 2 users, load averages: 0.83, 0.90, 0.90
USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE WHAT
will p0 c-66-164-235-73. 8:11AM - w
spencer p3 c-66-164-235-73. 8:26PM 1:24 pine

$ who
will ttyp0 Jul 26 08:11 (66.164.235.73)
spencer ttyp3 Jul 26 20:26 (66.164.235.73)

$ users
spencer will
List All Unix Users
To list all users on a Unix system, even the ones who are not logged in, look at the /etc/password file.


$ cat /etc/passwd
...
george:*:1009:1009:George Washington:/home/george:/usr/bin/bash
tom:*:1016:1016:Thomas Jefferson:/home/tom:/usr/bin/bash
al:*:1017:1017:Alexander Hamilton:/home/alex:/usr/bin/bash
...
You can use the `cut` command to only see one field from the password file.

For example, to just see the Unix user names, use the command "$ cat /etc/passwd | cut -d: -f1".


$ cat /etc/passwd | cut -d: -f1
...
george
tom
al
...
Or, to only see the GECOS field (i.e. the account holders real name), try this:


$ cat /etc/passwd | cut -d: -f5
...
George Washinton
Thomas Jefferson
Alexander Hamilton
...
Note that you will also see Unix system accounts, such as "root", "bin", and "daemon" in the /etc/passwd file. These system accounts are not Unix users.