Documented in Volume 1 of the UNIX Programmers Manual.
% finger kemp
will produce:
Login name: kemp In real life: Steve Kemp
Phone: 555-8401
Directory: /va/kemp Shell: /bin/csh
On since Mar 18 16:30:18 on tty07 16 seconds Idle Time
Project: Editor, Computing HIGHLIGHTS
Plan:
--- increase productivity by sharing ideas.
Location: SAV Phone: 555 1048 x564
% finger -s kemp
will produce:
Login Name TTY Idle When Office
kemp Stephen P. Kemp h6 Wed 12:00 555-1048
-or-
Login Name TTY Idle When Office
kemp Stephen P. Kemp *h6 Wed 12:00 555-1048
Note in the first case 'h6' is listed, indicating that the shown
terminal (h6) is writeable via 'talk' or 'write'. The second case
shows '*h6', where the asterisk indicates the terminal is
NOT writeable and will ignore attempts to write to it.
% finger
short form list of users
% finger -b
briefer long form list of users
% finger -q
quick list of users
% finger -i
quick list of users with idle times
% finger user1 user2 user3
long format list of specified users
% finger -w user1 user2 user3
narrow short format list of specified users
NOTE: information for finger is sought from ~/.project and ~/.plan