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Name

uname - print name of current system

Synopsis

uname [ -aimnprsv ]
uname [ -S system_name ]

Availability

SUNWcsu

Description

The uname utility prints information about the current system on the standard output. When options are specified, symbols 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
Print all information.
-i
Print the name of the hardware implementation (platform).
-m
Print the machine hardware name (class). Use of this option is discouraged; use uname -p instead. See NOTES section below.
-n
Print the nodename (the nodename is the name by which the system is known to a communications network).
-p
Print the current host’s ISA or processor type.
-r
Print the operating system release level.
-s
Print the name of the operating system. This is the default.
-v
Print the operating system version.
-S system_name
The nodename may be changed by specifying a system name argument. The system name argument is restricted to SYS_NMLN characters. SYS_NMLN is an implementation specific value defined in <sys/utsname.h>. Only the super-user is allowed this capability.

Examples

The following command:
example% uname -sr
prints the operating system name and release level, separated by one SPACE character.

Environment

See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables that affect the execution of uname: LC_CTYPE , LC_MESSAGES , and NLSPATH .

Exit Status

The following exit values are returned:
  1. Successful completion.
    >0
    An error occurred.

    See Also

    sysinfo(2) , uname(2) , environ(5)

    Notes

    Independent Software Vendors (ISV) 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. Note 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).

    In SunOS 4.x releases, the arch command was often used to obtain information similar to that obtained by using the uname command. The arch 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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