uname
![]() The uname command on UNIX System V | |
Developer(s) | AT&T Bell Laboratories, David MacKenzie. |
---|---|
Operating system | Unix and Unix-like |
Platform | Cross-platform |
Type | Command |
License | coreutils: GPL-3.0-or-later |
uname (short for unix name) is a computer program in Unix and Unix-like computer operating systems that prints the name, version and other details about the current machine and the operating system running on it.
History[]
The uname
system call and command appeared for the first time in PWB/UNIX. Both are specified by POSIX.[1][2] The GNU version of uname is included in the "sh-utils" or "coreutils" packages. uname
itself is not available as a standalone program. The version of uname
bundled in GNU coreutils was written by David MacKenzie.[3] The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part of the GnuWin32 project[4] and the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities.[5]
Related and similar commands[]
Some Unix variants, such as AT&T UNIX System V Release 3.0, include the related setname
program, used to change the values that uname reports.
The ver
command found in operating systems such as DOS, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows is similar to the uname
command.
Examples[]
On a system running Darwin, the output from running uname
with the -a
command line argument might look like the text below:
$ uname -a
Darwin Roadrunner.local 10.3.0 Darwin Kernel Version 10.3.0: Fri Feb 26 11:58:09 PST 2010; root:xnu-1504.3.12~1/RELEASE_I386 i386
The following table contains examples from various versions of uname
on various platforms.[6] Within the bash shell, the variable OSTYPE contains a value similar (but not identical) to the value of uname -o.
Distribution | System (or kernel) (-s) POSIX |
Operating System (or distribution) (-o) | Machine (-m) POSIX |
Processor (-p) | Hardware platform (-i or -M) | OS (kernel) version (-v) POSIX |
OS (kernel) release (-r) POSIX |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Android 4.2.1 on Nexus 4 | Linux | GNU/Linux | armv7l | Unknown | Unknown | #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Nov 8 15:42:02 PST 2012 | 3.4.0-perf-ge039dcb |
Android 2.3 on Meteorit netbook | Linux | GNU/Linux | armv6l | Unknown | Unknown | ||
any, coreutils 7.1 | Linux | GNU/Linux | sparc64 | sparc64 | UltraSPARC T1 (Niagara) | (all) | (all) |
any, coreutils 7.1–8.4 | Linux | GNU/Linux | ppc64 | ppc64 | PPC 970FX (XServe G5) | (all) | (all) |
busybox-w32 1.27 (32-bit) on Windows 10 | Windows_NT | MS/Windows | i686 | Unknown | Unknown | 9200 | 6.2 |
busybox-w32 1.27 (64-bit) on Wine 2.0 | Windows_NT | MS/Windows | x86_64 | Unknown | Unknown | 3790 | 5.2 |
CentOS 6.5, Pentium SU4100 | Linux | GNU/Linux | i686 | i686 | i386 | #1 SMP Fri Nov 22 00:26:36 UTC 2013 | 2.6.32-431.el6.i686 |
Cray UNICOS 9.0.2.2 | sn5176 | illegal option | CRAY Y-MP | illegal option | illegal option | sin.0 | 9.0.2.2 |
Cygwin (Windows XP), Pentium 4 | CYGWIN_NT-5.1 | Cygwin | i686 | Unknown | Unknown | 2006-01-20 13:28 | 1.5.19(0.150/4/2) |
Cygwin 1.7 (Windows 7 32-bit), Core i7 | CYGWIN_NT-6.1 | Cygwin | i686 | Unknown | Unknown | 2012-07-20 22:55 | 1.7.16(0.262/5/3) |
Cygwin 1.7 (Windows 7 64-bit), Core i7 | CYGWIN_NT-6.1-WOW64 | Cygwin | i686 | Unknown | Unknown | 2012-05-09 10:25 | 1.7.15(0.260/5/3) |
Cygwin 1.7 64 bit (Windows 7 64-bit) | CYGWIN_NT-6.1 | Cygwin | x86_64 | Unknown | Unknown | 2014-02-09 21:06 | 1.7.28(0.271/5/3) |
Cygwin 2.2 64 bit (Windows 10 64-bit) | CYGWIN_NT-10.0 | Cygwin | x86_64 | Unknown | Unknown | 2015-08-20 11:42 | 2.2.1(0.289/5/3) |
DJGPP v2 32 bit (Windows Server 2008) | MS-DOS | illegal option | i686 | illegal option | illegal option | 50 | 5 |
Debian 6.0.5 on Raspberry Pi B | Linux | GNU/Linux | armv6l | Unknown | unknown (-i) invalid (-M) |
#90 Wed Apr 18 18:23:05 BST 2012 / #538 PREEMPT Fri Aug 30 20:42:08 BST 2013 | 3.1.9+ / 3.6.11+ |
Debian on WD MyBookLive | Linux | GNU/Linux | ppc | Unknown | unknown (-i) invalid (-M) |
#1 Fri Oct 15 17:13:23 PDT 2010 | 2.6.32.11-svn21605 |
Debian GNU/Hurd | GNU | GNU | i686-AT386 | Unknown | unknown (-i) illegal option (-M) |
GNU-Mach 1.3.99-486/Hurd-0.3 | 0.3 |
Debian GNU/kFreeBSD 6.0, AMD | GNU/kFreeBSD | GNU/kFreeBSD | x86_64 | amd64 | AMD Sempron(tm) Processor 3000+ | #0 Thu Nov 26 04:22:59 CET 2009 | 8.0-1-amd64 |
DragonFlyBSD | DragonFly | illegal option | i386 | i386 | GENERIC | DragonFly v2.13.0.749.g93fef-DEVELOPMENT #0: … | 2.13-DEVELOPMENT |
DragonFlyBSD 2.7, AMD64 | DragonFly | illegal option | x86_64 | x86_64 | [filename of kernel conf file] | DragonFly v2.7.3.122.g0ba92-DEVELOPMENT #0: Tue June 8 16:50:35 CEST 2010 | 2.7-DEVELOPMENT root@Chance.: /usr/obj/usr/src/sys/X86_64_GENERIC |
Fedora 19 | Linux | GNU/Linux | i686 | i686 | i386 | #1 SMP Fri Mar 7 17:22:54 UTC 2014 | 3.13.6-100.fc19.i686 |
FreeBSD 6.1, Intel | FreeBSD | illegal option | i386 | i386 | [kernel name from kernel conf file. i.e.: GENERIC] | FreeBSD 6.1-RELEASE-p15 #1: Sun Apr 15 18:04:51 EDT 2007 | 6.1-RELEASE-p15 |
FreeBSD 9.0, Intel | FreeBSD | FreeBSD | amd64 | amd64 | [kernel name from kernel conf file. i.e.: GENERIC] | FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE #0: Tue Jan 3 07:46:30 UTC 2012 root@farrell.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC | 9.0-RELEASE |
Gentoo, UltraSparc IIe | Linux | GNU/Linux | sparc64 | sun4u | TI UltraSparc IIe (Hummingbird) | #1 SMP Wed Nov 10 02:04:26 CET 2010 | 2.6.34-gentoo-r12 |
Haiku R1/Alpha 1, QEMU | Haiku | Haiku | BePC | Unknown | Unknown | r33109 Sep 12 2009 17:45:45 | 1 |
HP-UX | HP-UX | illegal option | 9000/712 | illegal option | [Unique machine ID number or node name if cannot be determined.] | U | B.11.11 |
HP-UX 11i v3 | HP-UX | illegal option | ia64 | illegal option | [Unique machine ID number or node name if cannot be determined.] | U | B.11.31 |
GNU Hurd | GNU | GNU | i686-AT386 | unknown | unknown | GNU-Mach 1.8+git20190109-486/Hurd-0.9 | 0.9 |
IBM AIX PS/2 v1.3 | AIX | illegal option | i386 | illegal option | illegal option | 1 | 3.0 |
IBM AIX 5.3 | AIX | illegal option | (serial number of machine) | powerpc | IBM,8205-E6B | 5 | 3 |
IBM AIX 7.1 | AIX | illegal option | (serial number of machine) | powerpc | IBM,7891-73X | 7 | 1 |
IBM AIX 7.2 | AIX | illegal option | (serial number of machine) | powerpc | IBM,9009-42A | 7 | 2 |
IBM i 5.3 with QSH | OS400 | (hostname) | (serial number of machine) | Unknown | Unknown | 5 | 3 |
IBM i 6.1 with QSH | OS400 | (hostname) | (serial number of machine) | Unknown | Unknown | 6 | 1 |
IBM i 7.1 with QSH | OS400 | (hostname) | (serial number of machine) | Unknown | Unknown | 7 | 1 |
Interix (Windows Services for UNIX) 3.5 | Interix | illegal option | x86 | Intel_x86_Family6_Model28_Stepping10 | illegal option | 10.0.7063.0 | 6.1 |
Interix, Subsystem for Unix-based Applications (SUA), AMD64 6.1 (Windows 2008 R2) | Interix | - | genuineintel | Intel64_Family_6_Model_26_Stepping_4 | - | 10.0.7063.0 | 6.1 |
IRIX | IRIX | illegal option | IP22 | mips | illegal option | ||
IRIX 6.5.30, Origin 2000 | IRIX64 | illegal option | IP30
IP35 |
mips | illegal option | 07202013 | 6.5 |
Linux Mint 10 "Julia" 64-bit | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | Unknown | Unknown | #33-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 19 20:32:27 UTC 2010 | 2.6.35-22-generic |
Linux on Xeon Phi | Linux | GNU/Linux | k1om | k1om | k1om | #2 SMP Fri Jun 21 13:43:31 EDT 2013 | 2.6.38.8-g2593b11 |
Mac OS X Panther 10.3, PowerBook G4 (2004) | Darwin | illegal option | Power Macintosh | powerpc | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 7.8.0: Wed Dec 22 14:26:17 PST 2004; root:xnu/xnu-517.11.1.obj~1/RELEASE_PPC | 7.8.0 |
Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6, MacBook3,1 (Late 2007) | Darwin | illegal option | i386 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 10.0.0: Fri Jul 31 22:47:34 PDT 2009; root:xnu-1456.1.25~1/RELEASE_I386 | 10.0.0 |
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 build 11D50, MacbookPro7,1 (Late 2010) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 11.3.0: Thu Jan 12 18:47:41 PST 2012; root:xnu-1699.24.23~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 11.3.0 |
OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 build 12D78, MacbookPro10,1 (Mid 2012) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 12.3.0: Sun Jan 6 22:37:10 PST 2013; root:xnu-2050.22.13~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 12.3.0 |
OS X Mavericks 10.9 build 13A598, MacbookPro5,1 (Mid 2009) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 13.0.0: Thu Sep 19 22:22:27 PDT 2013; root:xnu-2422.1.72~6/RELEASE_X86_64 | 13.0.0 |
OS X Yosemite 10.10 build 14A298i, MacbookPro6,2 (Mid 2010) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 14.0.0: Tue Jul 15 23:56:31 PDT 2014; root:xnu-2782.1.43.0.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 14.0.0 |
OS X El Capitan 10.11 build 15A284, MacBookPro10,1 (Mid 2012) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 15.0.0: Sat Sep 19 15:53:46 PDT 2015; root:xnu-3247.10.11~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 15.0.0 |
macOS Sierra 10.12 build 16E195, MacBookPro12,1 (Early 2015) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 16.5.0: Fri Mar 3 16:52:33 PST 2017; root:xnu-3789.51.2~3/RELEASE_X86_64 | 16.5.0 |
macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 build 17D47, MacBookPro12,1 (Early 2015) | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 17.4.0: Sun Dec 17 09:19:54 PST 2017; root:xnu-4570.41.2~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 17.4.0 |
macOS Mojave 10.14.3 build 18D109 | Darwin | illegal option | x86_64 | i386 | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 18.2.0: Thu Dec 20 20:46:53 PST 2018; root:xnu-4903.241.1~1/RELEASE_X86_64 | 18.2.0 |
macOS Catalina 10.15.5 build 19F101 | Darwin | Darwin | x86_64 | i386 | MacBookPro15.1 | Darwin Kernel Version 19.5.0: Tue May 26 20:41:44 PDT 2020; root:xnu-6153.121.2~2/RELEASE_X86_64 | 19.5.0 |
macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 build 20B29 on Apple M1 | Darwin | illegal option | arm64 | arm | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 20.1.0: Sat Oct 31 00:07:10 PDT 2020; root:xnu-7195.50.7~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101 | 20.1.0 |
macOS Monterey 12.2.1 build 21D62[7] on Apple M1 | Darwin | illegal option | arm64 | arm | illegal option | Darwin Kernel Version 21.3.0: Wed Jan 5 21:37:58 PST 2022; root:xnu-8019.80.24~20/RELEASE_ARM64_T8101 | 21.3.0 |
Manjaro Linux 0.8.11 64 bit | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | Unknown | Unknown | #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Nov 15 10:54:42 UTC 2014 | 3.17.3-1-MANJARO |
MidnightBSD 1.0, Intel | MidnightBSD | MidnightBSD | amd64 | amd64 | [kernel name from kernel conf file. i.e.: GENERIC] | MidnightBSD 1.0 #5 r11989M: Sat Aug 11 13:20:45 EDT 2018 root@stargazer.midnightbsd.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC | 1.0 |
MINIX 3.1.7, x86 | Minix | illegal option | i686 | i386 | illegal option | 1.7 | 3 |
MinGW 32 bit (Windows 7) | MINGW32_NT-6.1 | Msys | i686 | Unknown | Unknown | 2018-11-26 09:22 | 2.11.2(0.329/5/3) |
MinGW 64 bit (Windows 7) | MINGW64_NT-6.1 | Msys | x86_64 | Unknown | Unknown | 2018-11-26 09:22 | 2.11.2(0.329/5/3) |
MSYS 32 bit (Windows 7) | MSYS_NT-6.1 | Msys | i686 | Unknown | Unknown | 2018-11-26 09:22 | 2.11.2(0.329/5/3) |
MSYS 64 bit (Windows 7) | MSYS_NT-6.1 | Msys | x86_64 | Unknown | Unknown | 2018-11-26 09:22 | 2.11.2(0.329/5/3) |
NetBSD | NetBSD | Unknown | i386 | i386 | Unknown | NetBSD 6.0.1 (GENERIC) | 6.0.1 |
NonStop OS H06 25 | NONSTOP_KERNEL | Unknown | NSE-T | Unknown | H06 | 25 | Unknown |
NonStop OS J06 14 | NONSTOP_KERNEL | Unknown | NSE-AB | Unknown | J06 | 14 | Unknown |
OpenBSD 5.4 | OpenBSD | illegal option | amd64 | amd64 | illegal option | GENERIC.MP#1 | 5.4 |
openSUSE 10.3, Core2-duo 64-bit | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #1 SMP 2007/09/21 22:29:00 UTC | 2.6.22.5-31-default |
OpenWRT Barrier Breaker r40420 on TL-WR1043ND | Linux | GNU/Linux | mips | Unknown | unknown (-i) invalid (-M) |
#1 Tue Apr 8 06:30:07 UTC 2014 | 3.10.34 |
QNX | QNX | – | x86pc | x86 | – | 2010/07/09-14:44:03EDT | 6.5.0 |
Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core 6, AMD Turion64 mobile | Linux | GNU/Linux | i686 | athlon | i386 | #1 SMP Wed Jan 10 19:28:18 EST 2007 | 2.6.19-1.2895.fc6 |
ReliantUNIX | ReliantUNIX-Y | RM600 | R4000 | B2005 | 5.45 | ||
SINIX | SINIX-Y | RM600 | R4000 | 5.43 | |||
Solaris 2.5.1 Intel Platform Edition | SunOS | Solaris | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | Generic_103641-42 | 5.5.1 |
Solaris 8 | SunOS | illegal option | sun4u | sparc | SUNW,UltraAX-i2 | Generic_117350-50 | 5.8 |
Solaris 9, Sun Fire 280R | SunOS | illegal option | sun4u | sparc | SUNW,Sun-Fire-280R | Generic_112233-08 | 5.9 |
Solaris 10, Sun Fire V490 | SunOS | illegal option | sun4u | sparc | SUNW,Sun-Fire-V490 | Generic_142900-13 | 5.10 |
Solaris 11.1, Sun Fire X4540 | SunOS | illegal option | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | 11.1 | 5.11 |
OpenIndiana | SunOS | illegal option | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | oi_151a8 | 5.11 |
OpenIndiana Hipster 2018.04 | SunOS | Solaris | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | illumos-47b8d4b884 | 5.11 |
SmartOS | SunOS | illegal option | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | joyent_20150403T203811Z | 5.11 |
SunOS | illegal option | i86pc | i386 | i86pc | omnios-a708424 | 5.11 | |
Tru64 | OSF1 | invalid | alpha | alpha | invalid | 2650 | V5.1 |
Ubuntu 11.04 | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #46-Ubuntu SMP Tue Jun 28 15:07:17 UTC 2011 | 2.6.38-10-generic |
Ubuntu 12.0.4 on Pandaboard ES | Linux | GNU/Linux | armv7l | armv7l | armv7l | #33-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT Sat Jan 26 00:46:04 UTC 2013 | 3.2.0-1425-omap4 |
Ubuntu 20.0.4LTS on Raspberry Pi 4 Model B | Linux | GNU/Linux | aarch64 | aarch64 | aarch64 | #20-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 6 05:11:16 UTC 2020 | 5.4.0-1018-raspi |
Ultrix | ULTRIX | – | VAX | – | – | 0 | 4.5 |
Unity Linux | Linux | GNU/Linux | i686 | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2520M CPU @ 2.50 GHz | unknown (-i) invalid (-M) |
#1 SMP Fri Oct 1 16:46:58 UTC 2010 | 2.6.35.7-unity1 |
UnxUtils 2007 32 bit (Windows Server 2008) | WindowsNT | illegal option | x86 | illegal option | illegal option | 6 | 0 |
(SCO) OpenServer 5.0.6 | SCO_SV | (hostname) | i386 | i386 | illegal | 5.0.6 | 3.2 |
(SCO) System V | SCO_SV | illegal | i386 | i386 | illegal | 6.0.0 | 5 |
(SCO) UnixWare 7.1.4 | UnixWare | illegal option | i386 | x86at | -i hardware serial/license number, .e.g. 1AB000123 or NUL000000; -M is illegal option | 7.1.4 | 5 |
UWIN (64 bit Windows 7), Intel Core i5 | UWIN-W7 | UWIN | i686-64 | x64 | 64/64 | 2012-06-26 | 5.0/6.1 |
SYS$UNIX:SH on OpenVMS on VAX emulator | IS/WB | illegal option | vax-6340 | illegal option | illegal option | std | 5.0 |
z/OS USS | OS/390 | Unknown | 2097 | Unknown | -i/-M: unknown option; -I: z/OS | 03 | 22.00 |
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), Ubuntu 18.04 | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #476-Microsoft Fri Nov 01 16:53:00 PST 2019 | 4.4.0-18362-Microsoft |
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2), Ubuntu 20.04 | Linux | GNU/Linux | x86_64 | x86_64 | x86_64 | #1 SMP Wed Aug 25 23:20:18 UTC 2021 | 5.10.60.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 |
See also[]
Footnotes[]
- ^ uname. The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7/IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition. Specifies the command.
- ^ uname. The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 7/IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition. Specifies the function/system call.
- ^ "Uname(1): Print system info - Linux man page".
- ^ CoreUtils for Windows
- ^ Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities
- ^ These are merely meant to broadly represent common systems; actual output may vary depending on hardware type, OS version, and which software patches have been installed.
- ^ Find out which macOS your Mac is using. From the Apple menu in the corner of your screen, choose About This Mac. You should see the macOS name, such as macOS Monterey or macOS Big Sur, followed by its version number. If you need to know the build number as well, click the version number to see it.
External links[]
![]() |
The Wikibook Guide to Unix has a page on the topic of: Commands |
- Unix SUS2008 utilities
- IBM i Qshell commands