Linux OS: CentOS Version

The latest CentOS version is?CentOS7 (version?7.7.1511)
However, here are the others CentOS version under support: CentOS 6 (version 6.6.8)??End Of Life (EOL) CentOS; CentOS 5 ¡ª version 5.5.11? ¨C> 31st March 2017; CentOS 4 ¡ª version 4.4.9??? ¨C>? 29th February 2012
For more information, kindly visit our Linux VPS page or contact our support team.
8 Ways to Check CentOS Version
Before starting to learn about how to check CentOS version, you should know that CentOS version consists of three parts, which are:
- Major Version: Major release version number
- Minor Version: Minor release version number
- Monthstamp: codebase month and year timestamp
1. /etc/centos-release file
There are CentOS release and version details in the CentOS specific file.
[root@centos ~] # cat /etc/centos-release CentOS Linux release 8.1.1911 (Core) [root@centos ~] # |
- Major Version: 8
- Minor Version: 1
- Monthstamp: 1911 i.e. November 2019.

Centos Release Version
2. /etc/system-release file
This file also contains the same information as the centos-release file.
[root@centos ~] # cat /etc/system-release CentOS Linux release 8.1.1911 (Core) [root@centos ~] # |
3. /etc/os-release file
This file contains the Linux OS information. So, you can get the major version number from this file.
[root@centos ~] # cat /etc/os-release NAME= "CentOS Linux" VERSION= "8 (Core)" ID= "centos" ID_LIKE= "rhel fedora" VERSION_ID= "8" PLATFORM_ID= "platform:el8" PRETTY_NAME= "CentOS Linux 8 (Core)" ANSI_COLOR= "0;31" CPE_NAME= "cpe:/o:centos:centos:8" HOME_URL= "none" BUG_REPORT_URL= "https://bugs.centos.org/" ? CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT= "CentOS-8" CENTOS_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION= "8" REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT= "centos" REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION= "8" ? [root@centos ~] # |
4. /etc/redhat-release file
CentOS is built on top of RedHat Linux distribution. Besides, this file also contains the same information as the centos-release file.
[root@centos ~] # cat /etc/redhat-release CentOS Linux release 8.1.1911 (Core) [root@centos ~] # |
5. lsb_release command
This command doesn¡¯t come pre-installed with the CentOS server. However, you can install it using the following command.
[root@centos ~] # yum install redhat-lsb |
Then, check the CentOS version using the following command.
[root@centos ~] #? lsb_release -d Description:??? CentOS Linux release 8.1.1911 (Core) [root@centos ~] # |

6. rpm query
Besides using the command above, we can query the rpm package manager to get the CentOS version information.
[root@centos ~] # rpm -q centos-release centos-release-8.1-1.1911.0.8.el8.x86_64 [root@centos ~] # |

7. rpm macro
Here is a simple rpm macro evaluation to get the CentOS major version.
[root@centos ~] # rpm -E %{rhel} 8 [root@centos ~] # |

8. hostnamectl command
Next, the hostnamectl command can be used to get the system information. Also, it reveals the Operating System version.
[root@centos ~] # hostnamectl ??? Static hostname : localhost.localdomain Transient hostname : li1176-240.members.linode.com ????????? Icon name: computer-vm ??????????? Chassis: vm ???????? Machine ID: c2a4bfa7e0c74457b3a978656ab959e8 ??????????? Boot ID: c89bae2d3ec7493987a455bfa15e4818 ???? Virtualization: kvm ?? Operating System: CentOS Linux 7 (Core) ??????? CPE OS Name: cpe: /o :centos:centos:7 ???????????? Kernel: Linux 3.10.0-1062.12.1.el7.x86_64 ?????? Architecture: x86-64 [root@centos ~] # [root@centos ~] # [root@centos ~] # hostnamectl | grep "Operating System" ?? Operating System: CentOS Linux 7 (Core) [root@centos ~] # |
Are you wondering why this command is printing CentOS 7, whereas others are printing CentOS 8?
Well, it¡¯s because the hostnamectl command doesn¡¯t work in Docker containers. This command output is from my own VPS machine. The other commands output is from my local Docker CentOS 8 container.