pinky

Display details about the current user

$ pinky

$ pinky [user]

$ pinky [user] -l

$ pinky [user] -lb

$ pinky [user] -lh

$ pinky [user] -f

pinky [OPTIONS] [USER...]

-l, --long
    Use the long output format, providing more detailed information about users.

-s, --short
    Use the short output format. This is the default behavior when no arguments are given.

-b, --birth
    Display the user's birth date, if available.

-h, --home
    Show the user's home directory.

-p, --plan
    Display the content of the user's .plan file.

-a, --all
    Show all available information for a user, excluding .plan and .project files.

-f, --full
    Display the user's full name rather than just the first name.

-q, --quiet
    Suppress the header line that normally appears at the top of the output.

pinky is a program that provides basic information about users currently logged into the system or specified users. It serves as a stripped-down, lighter version of the more verbose finger command. While finger often displays extensive details, pinky focuses on delivering essential user data quickly and efficiently.

By default, when invoked without any arguments, pinky lists the login names, real names, terminal lines, idle times, and login times of all logged-in users. When one or more usernames are provided as arguments, it displays similar information specifically for those users. Its lightweight nature makes it ideal for environments where minimal output and resource usage are preferred, or when a quick glance at user activity is needed without the full overhead of finger. It's a common utility found in most Linux distributions as part of the util-linux package.

pinky typically provides less information by default compared to the more comprehensive finger(1) command.

The amount and type of information displayed (e.g., birth date, office location, .plan file content) are dependent on how the system is configured and what privacy settings users have enabled or disabled.

Unlike finger(1), pinky is primarily designed for querying local user information and does not support querying remote finger servers directly.

The pinky command originated as a stripped-down alternative to the traditional finger(1) command. It was developed to offer a more lightweight and privacy-conscious way of retrieving basic user information on Unix-like systems. It is part of the widely used util-linux project, a collection of essential system utilities found on most Linux distributions. Its development reflects a trend towards providing leaner, more focused tools for common administrative and informational tasks, reducing overhead and potential information exposure.

finger(1), who(1), w(1)