Displays the name of the current operating system.
uname [ -a | -x | -SName ] | [ -l ] [ -L ] [ -m ] [ -M ] [ -n ] [ -p ] [ -r ] [ -s ] [ -TName ] [ -u ] [ -v ]
The uname command writes to standard output the name of the operating system that you are using.
The machine ID number contains 12 characters in the following digit format: xxyyyyyymmss. The xx positions indicate the system and is always 00. The yyyyyy positions contain the unique ID number for the entire system. The mm position represents the model ID. The ss position is the submodel number and is always 00. The model ID describes the ID of the CPU Planar, not the model of the System as a whole.
You can use the uname -m command sometimes to determine which model you are using. The following list is not complete. Refer to hardware vendor supplied documentation for values in the range E0 - FF. Also note that not all machine types have a machine ID. Many new machines share a common machine ID of 4C. Hexadecimal codes for the system models (mm) are:
Machine Machine Machine
Type Model ID
7006 410 42
7007 N40 F0
7008 M20 43 7008 M20A 43
7009 C10 48
7011 220 41 7011 230 47 7011 250 46
7012 320 31 7012 320H 35 7012 340 37 7012 350 38 or 77 7012 355 77 7012 360 76 7012 365 76 7012 370 75 7012 375 75 7012 380 58 7012 390 57 7012 G30 A6 7012 G40 A7
7013 520 30 7013 520H 34 7013 530 10 7013 530H 18 7013 540 14 or 11 7013 550 1C 7013 550L 77 7013 560 5C 7013 570 67 7013 580 66 7013 58H 71 7013 590 70 7013 590H 72 7013 J30 A0 7013 J40 A1
7015 930 20 or 02 7015 950 2E 7015 970 63 7015 970B 63 7015 980 64 7015 980B 64 7015 990 80 7015 R10 67 7015 R20 72 7015 R24 81 7015 R30 A3 7015 R40 A4
7016 730 10
7018 740 30 7018 770 67
7024 E20 C0
7025 F30 C4
7030 3AT 58 7030 3BT 57
7043 140 4C 7043 240 4C
7248 43P 4C
The machine identifier value returned by the uname command may change when new operating system software levels are installed. This change affects applications using this value to access licensed programs. To view this identifier, enter the uname -m command.
Contact the appropriate support organization if your application is affected.
| -a | Displays all information specified with the -m, -n, -r, -s, and -v flags. Cannot be used with the -x or -SName flag. If the -x flag is specified with the -a flag, the -x flag overrides it. |
| -l | Displays the LAN network number. |
| -L | Displays LPAR number and LPAR name. If LPAR does not exist, -1 is displayed for LPAR number and NULL for LPAR name. |
| -m | Displays the machine ID number of the hardware running the system. |
| -M | Displays the system model name. If the model name attribute does not exist, a null string is displayed. |
| -n | Displays the name of the node. This may be a name the system is known by to a UUCP communications network. |
| -p | Displays the architecture of the system processor. |
| -r | Displays the release number of the operating system. |
| -s | Displays the system name. This flag is on by default. |
| -S Name | Sets the name of the node. This can be the UUCP communications network name for the system. |
| -T Name | Sets the system name. This can be the UUCP communications network name for the system. |
| -u | Displays the system ID number. If this attribute is not defined, the output is the same as the output displayed by uname -m. |
| -v | Displays the operating system version. |
| -x | Displays the information specified with the -a flag as well as the LAN network number, as specified by the -l flag. |
If you enter a flag that is not valid, the uname command exits with an error message, an error return status, and no output.
Note: The uname command does not preserve the new system name and node name values across system reboot.
This command returns the following exit values:
| 0 | The requested information was successfully written. |
| >0 | An error occurred. |
To display the complete system name and version banner, enter:
| /usr/bin/uname | Contains the uname command. |
The uname or unamex subroutine.