How to Find User Account Info and Login Details in Linux?

For system administrators, monitoring user account information is essential for security and system management. Linux provides several powerful commands to gather details about users, their login history, group memberships, and current activity.

id Command

The id command displays user and group identification numbers along with group memberships. It shows details for the current user by default, or you can specify a particular user.

id
id 2112

Running the above commands gives us the following result ?

uid=1000(ubuntu) gid=1000(ubuntu) groups=1000(ubuntu),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),30(dip),46(plugdev),113(lpadmin),128(sambashare)
uid=2112(uname1) gid=2112(uname1) groups=2112(uname1)

The output shows the user ID (uid), primary group ID (gid), and all secondary groups the user belongs to.

groups Command

The groups command displays group names that the currently logged-in user belongs to. It provides a simplified view compared to the id command.

groups
groups ubuntu

Running the above code gives us the following result ?

ubuntu adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare
ubuntu : ubuntu adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare

getent Command

The getent command retrieves entries from administrative databases like passwd, group, and hosts. It's particularly useful for viewing user account information from /etc/passwd.

getent passwd
getent passwd ubuntu

Running the above code gives us the following result ?

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/usr/sbin/nologin
bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/usr/sbin/nologin
ubuntu:x:1000:1000:ubuntu,,,:/home/ubuntu:/bin/bash
ubuntu:x:1000:1000:ubuntu,,,:/home/ubuntu:/bin/bash

Each line shows username, password placeholder, UID, GID, user info, home directory, and default shell.

lslogins Command

The lslogins command provides a comprehensive overview of system users, including login history and account status. The -u flag shows only regular users.

lslogins -u

Running the above code gives us the following result ?

UID USER     PROC PWD-LOCK PWD-DENY LAST-LOGIN GECOS
  0 root      135                    root
1000 ubuntu    70                    23:04:25   ubuntu,,,
2112 uname1     0                               storefront
9002 uname4     0                               HR

This shows UID, username, number of processes, password status, and last login time.

w Command

The w command displays currently logged-in users and their active processes. It shows system uptime, load average, and detailed user session information.

w

Running the above code gives us the following result ?

 08:13:17 up 12:26,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
USER     TTY      FROM             LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
ubuntu   tty7     :0               23:04   12:58m  1:23   0.34s /sbin/upstart --user

Quick Reference

Conclusion

These Linux commands provide comprehensive user account information for system administration tasks. Use id and groups for quick user details, getent for complete account information, lslogins for user overviews, and w for monitoring active sessions.