CHFN(1)				 User Commands			       CHFN(1)

NAME
       chfn - change your finger information

SYNOPSIS
       chfn [-f full-name] [-o office] [-p office-phone] [-h home-phone] [-u]
       [-V] [username]

DESCRIPTION
       chfn is used to change your finger information. This information is
       stored in the /etc/passwd file, and is displayed by the finger program.
       The Linux finger command will display four pieces of information that
       can be changed by chfn: your real name, your work room and phone, and
       your home phone.

       Any of the four pieces of information can be specified on the command
       line. If no information is given on the command line, chfn enters
       interactive mode.

       In interactive mode, chfn will prompt for each field. At a prompt, you
       can enter the new information, or just press return to leave the field
       unchanged. Enter the keyword "none" to make the field blank.

       chfn supports non-local entries (kerberos, LDAP, etc.) if linked with
       libuser, otherwise use ypchfn(1), lchfn(1) or any other implementation
       for non-local entries.

OPTIONS
       -f, --full-name full-name
	   Specify your real name.

       -o, --office office
	   Specify your office room number.

       -p, --office-phone office-phone
	   Specify your office phone number.

       -h, --home-phone home-phone
	   Specify your home phone number.

       -u, --help
	   Display help text and exit.

       -V, --version
	   Display version and exit. (Short option -V is used since version
	   2.39; older versions used the now-deprecated -v).

CONFIG FILE ITEMS
       chfn reads the /etc/login.defs configuration file (see login.defs(5)).
       Note that the configuration file could be distributed with another
       package (e.g., shadow-utils). The following configuration items are
       relevant for chfn:

       CHFN_RESTRICT string
	   Indicate which fields are changeable by chfn.

	   The boolean setting "yes" means that only the Office, Office Phone
	   and Home Phone fields are changeable, and boolean setting "no"
	   means that also the Full Name is changeable.

	   Another way to specify changeable fields is by abbreviations: f =
	   Full Name, r = Office (room), w = Office (work) Phone, h = Home
	   Phone. For example, CHFN_RESTRICT "wh" allows changing work and
	   home phone numbers.

	   If CHFN_RESTRICT is undefined, then all finger information is
	   read-only. This is the default.

EXIT STATUS
       Returns 0 if operation was successful, 1 if operation failed or command
       syntax was not valid.

AUTHORS
       Salvatore Valente <svalente@mit.edu>

SEE ALSO
       chsh(1), finger(1), login.defs(5), passwd(5)

REPORTING BUGS
       For bug reports, use the issue tracker
       <https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues>.

AVAILABILITY
       The chfn command is part of the util-linux package which can be
       downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
       <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.

util-linux 2.41.2		  2025-09-22			       CHFN(1)