Linux w Guide - ryzendew/Linux-Tips-and-Tricks GitHub Wiki

Linux w Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to w on Linux, covering Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions including viewing logged-in users, system load, and user activity.

Table of Contents

  1. Understanding w
  2. w Basics
  3. User Activity
  4. System Information
  5. Troubleshooting

Understanding w

What is w?

w shows who is logged in and what they're doing.

Features:

  • Logged in users: See active users
  • Current activity: What users are running
  • System load: CPU load average
  • Login time: When users logged in

Why it matters:

  • Monitoring: Track system usage
  • Security: See active sessions
  • Troubleshooting: Debug user issues

w Basics

List Users

Show all users:

# Show logged in users
w

# Output includes:
# - Username
# - Terminal
# - Login time
# - Idle time
# - Current command

Specific User

Check user:

# Show specific user
w username

# Or
w -u username

User Activity

Current Commands

What users are doing:

# Show with commands
w

# Shows:
# - USER: Username
# - TTY: Terminal
# - FROM: Remote host
# - LOGIN@: Login time
# - IDLE: Idle time
# - JCPU: CPU time
# - PCPU: Process CPU
# - WHAT: Current command

Hide Header

Clean output:

# Hide header
w -h

# Just user list

System Information

Load Average

System load:

# w shows load average
w

# Top line shows:
# - Current time
# - Uptime
# - Load average
# - Number of users

Short Format

Brief output:

# Short format
w -s

# Less detailed

Troubleshooting

w Not Found

Check installation:

# Check w
which w

# Usually in procps-ng
# Install if missing
sudo pacman -S procps-ng

Summary

This guide covered w usage, user activity monitoring, and system information for Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions.

Next Steps

This guide covers Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other Linux distributions. For distribution-specific details, refer to your distribution's documentation.