whoami

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whoami
Whoami screenshot.png
coreutils whoami command
Developer(s)Bill Joy, Richard Mlynarik, Intel, Microsoft, ReactOS Contributors, Novell
Operating systemUnix, Unix-like, iRMX 86, Windows, ReactOS, NetWare
PlatformCross-platform
TypeCommand
LicenseBSD: BSD License
coreutils: GPLv3
iRMX 86, Windows, NetWare: Proprietary commercial software
ReactOS: GPLv2

In computing, whoami is a command found on most Unix-like operating systems, Intel iRMX 86, every Microsoft Windows[1] operating system since Windows Server 2003, and on ReactOS. It is a concatenation of the words "Who am I?" and prints the effective username of the current user when invoked.

Overview[]

The ReactOS whoami command

The command has the same effect as the Unix command id -un. On Unix-like operating systems, the output of the command is slightly different from $USER because whoami outputs the username that the user is working under, whereas $USER outputs the username that was used to log in. For example, if the user logged in as John and su into root, whoami displays root and echo $USER displays John. This is because the su command does not invoke a login shell by default.

The earliest versions were created in 2.9 BSD as a convenience form for who am i, the Berkeley Unix who command's way of printing just the logged in user's identity. This version was developed by Bill Joy.[2]

The GNU version was written by Richard Mlynarik and is part of the GNU Core Utilities (coreutils).

The command is available as a separate package for Microsoft Windows as part of the GnuWin32 project[3] and the UnxUtils collection of native Win32 ports of common GNU Unix-like utilities.[4]

On Intel iRMX 86 this command lists the currents user's identification and access rights.[5]

The command is also available as part of the Windows 2000 Resource Kit[6] and Windows XP SP2 Support Tools.[7]

The ReactOS version was developed by Ismael Ferreras Morezuelas and is licensed under the GPLv2.[8]

This command was also available as a NetWare-Command residing in the public-directory of the fileserver. It also outputs the current connections to which server the workstation is attached with which username.

Example[]

Unix, Unix-like[]

# whoami
root

Intel iRMX 86[]

--WHOAMI
USER ID: 5
ACCESS ID'S: 5, WORLD

Windows, ReactOS[]

C:\Users\admin>whoami
workgroup\admin

See also[]

  • logname
  • id
  • who
  • User identifiers for Unix
  • List of Unix commands

References[]

  1. ^ Microsoft TechNet Whoami article
  2. ^ 2.9.1BSD Manual Page
  3. ^ CoreUtils for Windows
  4. ^ Native Win32 ports of some GNU utilities
  5. ^ iRMX™86 INTRODUCTION AND OPERATOR'S REFERENCE MANUAL For Release 6
  6. ^ Windows 2000 Resource Kit Tool: Whoami.exe
  7. ^ Windows XP Service Pack 2 Support Tools
  8. ^ "Reactos/Reactos". GitHub. 3 January 2022.

Further reading[]

  • Barrett, Daniel J. (2012). Macintosh Terminal Pocket Guide: Take Command of Your Mac. O'Reilly. ISBN 978-1449328986.
  • Stanek, William R. (2008). Windows Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant, 2nd Edition. Microsoft Press. ISBN 978-0735622623.

External links[]

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