size of machine 64 or 32 bit

Question

If I am working on a Unix machine, how could I know the size of the machine whether it is 64-bit or 32-bit machine?

Answer 1

I have to deal with a lot of Unix platforms and generally the best way I have found is to look at the output of "uname -a". For example, if you see something like "i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux" in the output you know it's a 32 bit machine. If "amd64" shows up it's a 64. Sometimes it's a matter of trying to run a 64 bit programme. Sometimes it's RTFM.