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When writing an instruction about connecting to a computer using ssh, telnet, etc., I'm not sure what spacing to use in this familiar spoken phrase:

  • "Log in to host.com"
  • "Log into host.com"
  • "Login to host.com"

Maybe this is entirely subjective or the realm of industry jargon, but I couldn't think of anywhere else to ask. Any insight?

hippietrail
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John Siracusa
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    Using "ssh" or "telnet" as a verb isn't uncommon either. I hear plenty of "I can ssh into my workstation from my home computer." (Not that this addresses the "Log in or login?" question.) – res Nov 19 '10 at 20:53
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    http://notaverb.com/login. 'Nuff said. – Marthaª Nov 19 '10 at 21:56
  • Similarly, "Back up your data" vs "Backup your data". – Drew Sep 30 '18 at 03:46
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    @res "you can verb any noun". :) Though, comparing "ssh into a workstation" to "login to host.com", where "log in" exists, it's a bit like saying "entrance the building" when "enter the building" already works. hash-tag-late-to-the-party. – jinglesthula Nov 22 '19 at 17:16
  • I don't have the reputation to write an answer yet, but I believe that you might be able to avoid this "login to" vs "log into" dilemma if you used "log in at host.com" instead.

    E.g., you can then say stuff like "please log in at host.com" or "ok, I'm logged in at host.com. What next?"

     – Kal Mar 05 '21 at 04:54

5 Answers5

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I would write “Log in to host.com.”

I think that “login” is a noun (as in “login screen”). I would find the words “loginned” and “loginning” awkward.

As for “Log in to host.com” versus “Log into host.com,” I would use the former because I think that “log in” is a fixed phrase. Martha’s answer to another question is also related.

Added: The Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) lists 65 occurrences of “log in to” and 58 occurrences of “log into,” both including inflected forms and excluding the Spoken section. (The queries used are [log].[v*] in to and [log].[v*] into.) Since “log in to” is also used in context like “log in to download it,” the actual number of occurrences of “log in to [host]” is slightly smaller than 65. In any case, it suggests that the phrase “log into” is also used commonly, although I am not sure how good it is to use COCA to compare technical terms.

Laurel
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Tsuyoshi Ito
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    +1 - I think the conjugation is particularly helpful to see why it should be two separate words: "log in" -> "logging in" -> "logged in" – DaveMongoose Mar 12 '18 at 11:45
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    You said "login" is a noun (correct) but your example ("login screen") shows it being used as an adjective. The single word can be either an adjective or noun, but your answer is inconsistent. – samalamma708 Nov 07 '18 at 22:13
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    "To log in" and "to log into" are Reflexive Separable Phrasal Verbs which often have the reflection omitted. They mean the same thing but have slightly different grammatical construction. "To log in" requires a prepositional phrase to describe what a person is logging into. "To log into" requires a direct object to describe what a person is logging into. I chose "to log into" in the preceding sentences so "what" could be a direct object without a preposition. This is a general pattern of English verb construction, so it's not about which form is correct but about using each form correctly. – Stuporman Apr 04 '19 at 19:53
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    It would seem from your description of COCA's usages that they use "to log in" when their prepositional phrase is not about what is being logged into but about something else since "to log into" would require a direct object to be grammatically correct. The difference between "log in to host.com" and "log into host.com" is entirely lexical, so it really only matters if you're diagramming the sentence. Personally, I prefer to avoid prepositional phrases when possible, so I would write, "log into host.com." – Stuporman Apr 04 '19 at 20:15
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The verb is log in.

Log in to host.com

From the Wikipedia page for Login (an old revision):

Spelling confusion

The verbs are two words: log in and log out, whereas the nouns are login and logout (often used like adjectives in compound nouns).

Laurel
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b.roth
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  • "Log in" may be a verb, but when a host is involved, why isn't it "log into?" – John Siracusa Nov 19 '10 at 19:32
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    John, that's because "log in" is the phrasal verb with the intended meaning (See http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/log-in-on). "To" in this case is the preposition to connect with the word "host". – b.roth Nov 19 '10 at 19:34
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    In a sentence like Log in as "admin", you'd never write "*inas" as one word. Same thing with "in" and "to" when they just happen to end up next to each other in a sentence. – Marthaª Nov 19 '10 at 21:53
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    @Martha: That sounds like a logical explanation, but does not necessarily reflect the reality. It does not explain why some people never write “log inas Administrator” but still write “log into home.com.” I think that the difference is simple: “inas” is not used in any context, but the word “into” exists. – Tsuyoshi Ito Nov 20 '10 at 12:02
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    @Tsuyoshi Ito, perhaps I wasn't completely clear, but my point is that using "into" in such a case is just as incorrect as using "inas" would be. The fact that people make mistakes doesn't change this. – Marthaª Nov 20 '10 at 16:26
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    @Martha: That sounds like a pretty prescriptive attitude towards the language. – Tsuyoshi Ito Nov 20 '10 at 16:46
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    The phrase "turn in to bed", where "turn in" is a phrasal verb, very often gets written "turn into bed". See Google Ngrams. This is a similar case. – Peter Shor Jan 23 '14 at 11:09
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    Perhaps someone should give an example of when 'into' is ever correct. "Turn into bed" is definitely incorrect, unless one is morphing into the form of a bed. But what about "he fell into the hole", "she went into the house", or "Star Trek Into Darkness"? – onlynone Nov 20 '15 at 20:19
  • "turn in" is something one might do when sleepy, and can stand on its own. "to bed" further describes where it might be done. "fall in", if used on its own, sounds like something one might do in the Army, whereas "fall into" requires an object, like "the hole." I would not say "he fell in to the hole" because "he fell in" doesn't have the right meaning when used alone. – Nick Russo Apr 08 '17 at 16:26
  • In to is correct. and so is the reason the author of the answer gives. –  Jun 04 '17 at 22:19
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  • Yes, I agree: Use "log in to" as a verb. So use that for giving instructions.
  • "log into" is not terrible, but it doesn't sound as good because it sounds like you're actually going inside something. For example, "I walked into the store."
  • "login" is the noun and adjective form. So you would use that like this: "I programmed the login procedure." Or... "I don't like this app because the login process is very lengthy."

You can also think about each one with the way we stress the different syllables slightly when we're speaking:

  • "log in to host.com" sounds like "log + in + to host.com" (each word is pretty much evenly stressed)
  • "log into host.com" sounds like "log + INto host.com" (the stress is on "in")
  • "login to host.com" sounds like "LOGin + to host.com" (the stress is on "log")
Dave
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    I like the "log into" usage. The "going inside something" argument doesn't quite hold up: one can also say, "I walked into a pole, ouch!" – CSJ Dec 13 '14 at 16:19
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    I've always figured that you're going into the system. You're outside it until you log in / login. – mwardm Mar 30 '17 at 08:10
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    Yes you can log (or sign) into the restricted part and you can log in to acces some data. Following that logic, can you sign into your account? I mean, sign in to [verb] your account, right? – ThaJay Apr 08 '21 at 11:34
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Ironic that the instruction at the bottom of this page is 'Sign up or login'.

I'm here because I'm torn between log in to and log into and looking for clarification. At this point in time, I suspect the prevailing opinion is correct - that log in to is preferable for purposes of clarity.

However, I don't doubt that we will soon treat the process of logging in as a figurative point of entry, meaning that log into will make full conceptual sense (cf you don't physically delve into a problem or pile into an argument, yet both are correct grammatically because they are semantically [i.e. figuratively]).

Richard
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    You're right, it should use the verb "log in". I've reported the problem: http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/217201/fix-login-to-verb-log-in-on-question-pages – Hugo Jan 23 '14 at 10:51
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    This has been fixed and will be released soon: http://meta.stackexchange.com/a/217326/162511 Thanks for pointing it out! – Hugo Jan 24 '14 at 11:28
  • To me, "Log in to" sounds like it's followed by an action (do stuff) and "Log into" is followed by where (the page). – ThaJay Apr 08 '21 at 11:37
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Given that so much of the web environment isn't being written by writers who care, I'm increasingly seeing 'login' used as a verb. And to be honest, once it's normalised it will be the correct form.

I'm a digital copywriter and have fought this battle on a few occasions. But I've decided to throw in my hand. 'Login to this site'. 'Enter your login details'. Fine, whatever. Is it clear? Absolutely. Only people like us care.

Simon G
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    Yes, this will likely become formalised in time as a noun. As a web designer, I hate that "log in" creates a visual space between the words. If you line up "Log In Register" - is that three links or two? This creates a Gestalt problem, meaning you have to really fiddle with spacing to get the word groupings right, without using pipe characters. – Savage Mar 22 '19 at 03:23
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    Sure, you can try to solve that problem by using a one-word alternative for any multi-word phrase, but that's not always possible. Instead of relying on luck, being at the mercy of copy writers, and artificially limited to only allowing one-word items, IMHO you would be better off finding a general design solution that works even for multi-word phrases. Adjusting the letter-spacing and margin between items in your list isn't that hard – Tyler Rick Aug 19 '20 at 21:14
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    Login is a noun, the same as breakup (suffer a breakup), backup (keep backups safe), spinoff (a Star Wars spinoff), makeup, letdown, ... – Pablo H Feb 01 '22 at 14:25