# Get the Windows OS Login name using Ruby? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 17, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806 "2009-04-17T18:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806/1 "2009-04-17T18:08:25Z")
Do you know if there is a way to get the Windows OS Login name using Ruby? I can do this with VB but haven’t found a way to do this in Ruby. Thanks MC ---
**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806/2 "2009-04-17T18:13:09Z")
May not be pretty, but you can always do username=%x[echo %USERNAME%].strip A decent sized list of windows environmental variables is here: [http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/environment.htm](http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/environment.htm) That said I think there _is_ s nice builtin way of accessing windows environmental variables in ruby, but it’s been so long I’d probably just shell out using %x 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806/3 "2009-04-17T18:17:17Z")
I don’t know of a way. You could look at the Ruby on Windows blog [ [http://rubyonwindows.blogspot.com/](http://rubyonwindows.blogspot.com/) ] or search Google while waiting for others to reply. Regards, Craig ---
**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806/4 "2009-04-17T18:17:53Z")
> That said I think there _is_ s nice builtin way of accessing windows > .sub!(" s “,” a ") ---
**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806/5 "2009-04-17T18:28:27Z")
On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 10:08 AM, Mmcolli00 Mom [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)wrote: > Do you know if there is a way to get the Windows OS Login name using > Ruby? I can do this with VB but haven’t found a way to do this in Ruby. > > ## Thanks MC > > Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/). ## [http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/vframe.rb?key=Windows+logged+on&cginame=namazu.rb&submit=Search&dbname=ruby-talk&max=50&whence=0](http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/vframe.rb?key=Windows+logged+on&cginame=namazu.rb&submit=Search&dbname=ruby-talk&max=50&whence=0) “Hey brother Christian with your high and mighty errand, Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” -Greg Graffin (Bad Religion) ---
**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806/6 "2009-04-17T20:04:42Z")
On Friday 17 April 2009 11:12:27 Kyle S. wrote: > May not be pretty, but you can always do > > username=%x[echo %USERNAME%].strip > […] > That said I think there _is_ s nice builtin way of accessing windows > environmental variables in ruby, but it’s been so long I’d probably > just shell out using %x 🙂 ENV[‘USERNAME’] Was that so hard? Or does that not work on Windows? ---
**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806/7 "2009-04-17T19:04:15Z")
Mmcolli00 Mom wrote: > Do you know if there is a way to get the Windows OS Login name using > Ruby? I can do this with VB but haven’t found a way to do this in Ruby. require ‘etc’ p Etc.getlogin # OR gem install sys-admin require ‘sys/admin’ p Sys::Admin.get\_login Regards, Dan ---
**Author:** ![mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@mmcolli00](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mmcolli00)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/get-the-windows-os-login-name-using-ruby/165806/8 "2009-04-17T20:16:25Z")
Wow, funny enouhg, I don’t recall using ENV before. Nice. And I just verified on a windows box, yea that does work.