How to Get Kernel Version, Kernel Release, Processor type and Hardware Platform On Linux

This post show you the quick guide on how you can get the uname information for your linux server shell command. Sometimes it is required to quickly get and print kernel information.

1. Print help to view the basic syntax of the uname command :

[root@centos63 ~]# uname --help
Usage: uname [OPTION]...
Print certain system information.  With no OPTION, same as -s.

  -a, --all                print all information, in the following order,
                             except omit -p and -i if unknown:
  -s, --kernel-name        print the kernel name
  -n, --nodename           print the network node hostname
  -r, --kernel-release     print the kernel release
  -v, --kernel-version     print the kernel version
  -m, --machine            print the machine hardware name
  -p, --processor          print the processor type or "unknown"
  -i, --hardware-platform  print the hardware platform or "unknown"
  -o, --operating-system   print the operating system
      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  output version information and exit

Report uname bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
GNU coreutils home page: 
General help using GNU software: 
For complete documentation, run: info coreutils 'uname invocation'

2. Print the kernel version :

uname -v

Examples :

[root@centos63 ~]# uname -v
#1 SMP Tue Jul 10 12:30:45 UTC 2012

3. Print the kernel release :

uname -r

Examples :

[root@centos63 ~]# uname -r
2.6.32-279.1.1.el6.i686

4. Print the processor type :

uname -p

Examples :

[root@centos63 ~]# uname -p
i686

5. Print the hardware platform :

uname -i

Examples :

[root@centos63 ~]# uname -i
i386