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User Commands UNAME(1)
NAME
uname - print name of current system
SYNOPSIS
uname [-aimnprsvX]
uname [-S system_name]
DESCRIPTION
The uname utility prints information about the current sys-
tem on the standard output. When options are specified, sym-
bols representing one or more system characteristics will be
written to the standard output. If no options are specified,
uname prints the current operating system's name. The
options print selected information returned by uname(2),
sysinfo(2), or both.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-a
Prints basic information currently avail-
able from the system.
-i
Prints the name of the platform.
-m
Prints the machine hardware name (class).
Use of this option is discouraged. Use
uname -p instead. See NOTES section below.
-n
Prints the nodename (the nodename is the
name by which the system is known to a
communications network).
-p
Prints the current host's ISA or processor
type.
-r
Prints the operating system release level.
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User Commands UNAME(1)
-s
Prints the name of the operating system.
This is the default.
-S system_name
The nodename may be changed by specifying
a system name argument. The system name
argument is restricted to SYS_NMLN charac-
ters. SYS_NMLN is an implementation
specific value defined in <sys/utsname.h>.
Only the super-user is allowed this capa-
bility. This change does not persist
across reboots of the system. Use sys-
unconfig(1M) to change a host's name per-
manently.
-v
Prints the operating system version.
-X
Prints expanded system information, one
information element per line, as expected
by SCO UNIX. The displayed information
includes:
o system name, node, release, ver-
sion, machine, and number of
CPUs.
o BusType, Serial, and Users (set
to "unknown" in Solaris)
o OEM# and Origin# (set to 0 and 1,
respectively)
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Printing the OS name and release level
The following command:
example% uname -sr
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User Commands UNAME(1)
prints the operating system name and release level,
separated by one SPACE character.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of uname: LANG, LC_ALL,
LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
SYSV3
This variable is used to override the default
behavior of uname. This is necessary to make it
possible for some INTERACTIVE UNIX Systems and SCO
UNIX programs and scripts to work properly. Many
scripts use uname to determine the SYSV3 type or
the version of the OS to ensure software is compa-
tible with that OS. Setting SYSV3 to an empty
string will make uname print the following default
values:
nodename nodename 3.2 2 i386
The individual elements that uname displays can
also be modified by setting SYSV3 in the following
format:
os,sysname,node,rel,ver,mach
os
Operating system (IUS or SCO).
sysname
System name.
node
Nodename as displayed by the -n
option.
rel
Release level as displayed by the -r
option.
ver
Version number as displayed by the -v
option.
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User Commands UNAME(1)
mach
Machine name as displayed by -m
option.
Do not put spaces between the elements. If an
element is omitted, the current system value will
be used.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0
Successful completion.
>0
An error occurred.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
_______________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE|
|____________________|_________________|
| Interface Stability| Standard |
|____________________|_________________|
SEE ALSO
arch(1), isalist(1), sys-unconfig(1M), sysinfo(2), uname(2),
nodename(4), attributes(5), environ(5), standards(5)
NOTES
Independent software vendors (ISVs) and others who need to
determine detailed characteristics of the platform on which
their software is either being installed or executed should
use the uname command.
To determine the operating system name and release level,
use uname -sr. To determine only the operating system
release level, use uname -r. Notice that operating system
release levels are not guaranteed to be in x.y format (such
as 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, and so forth); future releases could be in
the x.y.z format (such as 5.3.1, 5.3.2, 5.4.1, and so
forth).
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User Commands UNAME(1)
In SunOS 4.x releases, the arch(1) command was often used to
obtain information similar to that obtained by using the
uname command. The arch(1) command output "sun4" was often
incorrectly interpreted to signify a SunOS SPARC system. If
hardware platform information is desired, use uname -sp.
The arch -k and uname -m commands return equivalent values;
however, the use of either of these commands by third party
programs is discouraged, as is the use of the arch command
in general. To determine the machine's Instruction Set
Architecture (ISA or processor type), use uname with the -p
option.
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