Professional Windows Server 1002003 Security A Technical Reference [Electronic resources]

Provides information about a user on a remote system.

Syntax

finger [-l] [username]@computername [...]

Options

-l

Verbose output.

[username]@computername

The user you want to finger on the remote systemthat is, the user about whom you want to obtain information. If username is omitted, finger obtains information concerning all users on the remote system.

Examples

In general, the output to the finger command depends on the system being queried. For example, here are the instructions displayed when using finger on a hypothetical Unix host at university

BlahBlah.edu and the results of fingering a user named

mitch :

finger help@blahblah.edu
[blahblah.edu]
Welcome to the finger daemon at blahblah.edu! By default, the finger command 
displays in multicolumn format the following information about each logged-
in user:
o   user Name
o   Nickname, you can use this to send to nickname_lastname@blahblah.edu.
o   The send_email_to field is the address to use to send this person 
email.
o   Campus address
o   Campus phone
o   Project
We don't show login info, or idle time since these IDs never actually login; 
this is a client-server system.
Different types of queries:
alias/netid lookup - finger jwh2@blahblah.edu
name lookup - finger howell@blahblah.edu
finger jim@blahblah.edu

If you get a message that says "Too many returns for your query," refine your query:

finger mitch@blahblah.edu
[blahblah.edu]
Information from BlahBlah's Network Identity Directory...
-----------------------------------------------------
Your query returned   2 matches:
Name:           Mitchell K Sillyness
Nickname:       Mitch
Send Email To:  mks@graphics.blahblah.edu
Campus Phone:   607-555-1212
Campus Address: 580 Smith Hall
Local Phone:
Local Address:
Project:
Name:           Mitch H. McNobody        
Nickname:
Send Email To:  mhm12@blahblah.edu
Campus Phone:
Campus Address:
Local Phone:
Local Address:
Project:
...

Notes

The remote machine must be running the finger daemon or service. If it isn't, you'll get "Connection refused" in response to using the finger command. WS2003 doesn't include a finger service, only a command-line finger client.

See Also

TCP/IP