How to Check System Uptime in macOS 13 Terminal

Checking your Mac's uptime reveals how long your system has been running continuously without a shutdown or reboot. This article explains how to quickly find this information on macOS 13 (Ventura) using built-in Terminal commands. You will learn the primary commands for viewing uptime, interpreting the output, and checking the exact timestamp of your system's last boot.

Opening the Terminal

To begin, launch the Terminal application on your Mac:

  1. Press Command + Space to open Spotlight Search.
  2. Type Terminal and press Return.

Method 1: The uptime Command

The fastest way to view your Mac's running time is the uptime utility.

Type the following command and press Return:

uptime

Output breakdown: The terminal will display a single line resembling this: 14:25 up 12 days, 3:41, 2 users, load averages: 1.85 1.72 1.60

  • 14:25: The current system time.
  • up 12 days, 3:41: How long the system has been running (12 days, 3 hours, and 41 minutes).
  • 2 users: The number of active user sessions.
  • load averages: The average system load over the past 1, 5, and 15 minutes.

Method 2: The w Command

The w command displays uptime alongside information about currently logged-in users and their active processes.

Type the following command and press Return:

w

The first line of the output matches the standard uptime output, followed by a table showing user details, terminal paths, login times, and current tasks.

Method 3: View the Exact Last Boot Time

If you need the specific date and time your Mac was last restarted rather than the elapsed duration, use the sysctl command:

sysctl kern.boottime

Output example: kern.boottime: { sec = 1698064800, usec = 0 } Mon Oct 23 10:00:00 2023

This reveals the precise day, date, and timestamp of the last boot sequence.

Alternatively, you can use the who command with the -b flag:

who -b

This prints a concise line stating: reboot ~ Oct 23 10:00.