whoami

Find out which user you are working as

What it does

whoami prints the name of the current user. On a server it is the first thing to check after logging in: the user decides which files you can reach and whether you need sudo.

sudo whoami prints root, which shows that a command with sudo runs as the administrator. id tells you more: the user's number and all of their groups.

Syntax

whoami
id

Examples

• Find out which user you are working as

  whoami

  • whoami — the current user's name

Related commands

• sudo — Run a command with admin rights
• usermod — Change a user, for example add them to a group
• passwd — Change a user's password

Practise · All commands