AC(1)			    General Commands Manual			 AC(1)



NAME
       ac -  print statistics about users' connect time

SYNOPSIS
       ac     [ -d | --daily-totals ] [ -y | --print-year ]
	      [ -p | --individual-totals ] [ people ]
	      [ -f | --file filename ] [ -a | --all-days ]
	      [ --complain ] [ --reboots ] [ --supplants ]
	      [ --timewarps ] [ --compatibility ]
	      [ --tw-leniency num ] [ --tw-suspicious num ]
	      [ -z | --print-zeros ] [ --debug ]
	      [ -V | --version ] [ -h | --help ]

DESCRIPTION
       ac  prints  out	a  report  of connect time (in hours) based on the lo-
       gins/logouts in the current wtmp file.  A total is also printed out.

       The accounting file wtmp is maintained by init(8) and  login(1).	  Nei-
       ther  ac	 nor login creates the wtmp if it doesn't exist, no accounting
       is done.	 To begin accounting, create the file with a length of zero.

       NOTE:  The wtmp file can get really big, really fast.  You  might  want
       to trim it every once and a while.

       GNU  ac	works  nearly the same u*x ac, though it's a little smarter in
       several ways.  You should therefore expect differences in the output of
       GNU  ac	and the output of ac's on other systems.  Use the command info
       accounting to get additional information.

OPTIONS
       -d, --daily-totals
	      Print totals for each day rather than just one big total at  the
	      end.  The output looks like this:
		      Jul  3  total	1.17
		      Jul  4  total	2.10
		      Jul  5  total	8.23
		      Jul  6  total	2.10
		      Jul  7  total	0.30

       -p, --individual-totals
	      Print  time totals for each user in addition to the usual every-
	      thing-lumped-into-one value.  It looks like:
		      bob	8.06
		      goff	0.60
		      maley	7.37
		      root	0.12
		      total    16.15

       people Print out the sum total of the connect time used by all  of  the
	      users included in people.	 Note that people is a space separated
	      list of valid user names; wildcards are not allowed.

       -f, --file filename
	      Read from the file filename instead of the system's wtmp file.

       --complain
	      When the wtmp file has a problem (a time-warp,  missing  record,
	      or whatever), print out an appropriate error.

       --reboots
	      Reboot records are NOT written at the time of a reboot, but when
	      the system restarts; therefore, it is impossible to know exactly
	      when  the	 reboot occurred.  Users may have been logged into the
	      system at the time of the reboot, and  many  ac's	 automatically
	      count  the  time between the login and the reboot record against
	      the user (even though all of that time shouldn't be, perhaps, if
	      the  system is down for a long time, for instance).  If you want
	      to count this time, include the flag.  *For vanilla ac  compati-
	      bility, include this flag.*

       --supplants
	      Sometimes,  a logout record is not written for a specific termi-
	      nal, so the time that the last user accrued cannot be  calculat-
	      ed.   If	you  want to include the time from the user's login to
	      the next login on the terminal (though probably incorrect),  in-
	      clude this you want to include the time from the user's login to
	      the next login on the terminal (though probably incorrect),  in-
	      clude  this  flag.   *For vanilla ac compatibility, include this
	      flag.*

       --timewarps
	      Sometimes, entries in a wtmp file will suddenly jump  back  into
	      the  past without a clock change record occurring.  It is impos-
	      sible to know how long a user was logged in  when	 this  occurs.
	      If  you  want  to	 count the time between the login and the time
	      warp against the user, include this flag.	 *For vanilla ac  com-
	      patibility, include this flag.*

       --compatibility
	      This is shorthand for typing out the three above options.

       -a, --all-days
	      If we're printing daily totals, print a record for every day in-
	      stead of skipping intervening days where there is no  login  ac-
	      tivity.	Without this flag, time accrued during those interven-
	      ing days gets listed under the next day where there is login ac-
	      tivity.

       --tw-leniency num
	      Set  the	time  warp  leniency  to num seconds.  Records in wtmp
	      files might be slightly out of order (most notably when two  lo-
	      gins  occur  within  a  one-second  period - the second one gets
	      written first).  By default, this value is set to	 60.   If  the
	      program  notices this problem, time is not assigned to users un-
	      less the --timewarps flag is used.

       --tw-suspicious num
	      Set the time warp suspicious  value  to  num  seconds.   If  two
	      records in the wtmp file are farther than this number of seconds
	      apart, there is a problem with the wtmp file  (or	 your  machine
	      hasn't  been used in a year).  If the program notices this prob-
	      lem, time is not assigned to users unless the  --timewarps  flag
	      is used.

       -y, --print-year
	      Print year when displaying dates.

       -z, --print-zeros
	      If  a  total  for	 any  category (save the grand total) is zero,
	      print it.	 The default is to suppress printing.

       --debug
	      Print verbose internal information.

       -V, --version
	      Print the version number of ac to standard output and quit.

       -h, --help
	      Prints the usage string and default locations of system files to
	      standard output and exits.

FILES
       wtmp
	      The  system  wide login record file. See wtmp(5) for further de-
	      tails.

AUTHOR
       The   GNU   accounting	utilities   were   written   by	  Noel	 Cragg
       <noel@gnu.ai.mit.edu>.  The  man	 page  was adapted from the accounting
       texinfo page by Susan Kleinmann <sgk@sgk.tiac.net>.

SEE ALSO
       login(1), wtmp(5), init(8), sa(8)



				1995 October 31				 AC(1)