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Easy explanation
$ w
First line, in man pages referred to as header shows the same stuff as
uptime
command.07:04:10 up 1:10, 3 users, load average: 0.07, 0.13, 0.22
Username
Shows username of user logged on.
TTY
The way how users are logged on through terminal, TTY is short for controlling terminal, if you see in you w command this output, it means that user mike is logged on through controlling terminal 7 as a gnome-session, this also tells you that when you are switched in other terminal or you have opened more terminals, that if you press Ctrl + Alt + F7, you will be switched the tty7 - the 7 is for F7.
Computer #1 (home PC)
USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT
mike tty7 05:54 1:09m 2:43 0.27s gnome-session -
Other types of terminal is pts, this is short for Pseudo Terminal Slave, there is also ptmx that is pseudo terminal master, but I have not seen that in w window yet. It basically means user is connected to this computer using remote session.
Computer #1 (home PC)
USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT
mike tty7 05:54 1:09m 2:43 0.27s gnome-session -
mike pts/0 :0 05:58 26.00s 0.06s 0.06s ssh -i
Now if we look on the computer, that I am connected to with this remote session, I enter
w
command there and I see:Computer #2 (remote server)
07:38:34 up 1:31, 2 users, load average: 1.49, 1.41, 1.03
USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT
ubuntu pts/0 chello456456456 06:09 1:30 0.57s 0.57s -bash
ubuntu pts/1 chello456456456 07:38 2.00s 0.47s 0.00s w
Note that it says two users, it is just me, one person, but this is the way it does report, first line is me connected remotely from my other computer to this one using SSH, under WHAT it says -bash, I am connected to openssh server in terminal, in from it says my hostname of the computer #1, that I am connected from. It also tells that on the Computer #2 I entered
w
command into the terminal.LOGIN@
LOGIN@ means logged on at specific time.IDLE
IDLE is what it is, user has been idle for a specific amount of time.