group(5) — Linux manual page

group(5)                   File Formats Manual                   group(5)

NAME         top

       group - user group file

DESCRIPTION         top

       The /etc/group file is a text file that defines the groups on the
       system.  There is one entry per line, with the following format:

           group_name:password:GID:user_list

       The fields are as follows:

       group_name
              the name of the group.

       password
              the (encrypted) group password.  If this field is empty, no
              password is needed.

       GID    the numeric group ID.

       user_list
              a list of the usernames that are members of this group,
              separated by commas.

FILES         top

       /etc/group

BUGS         top

       As the 4.2BSD initgroups(3) man page says: no one seems to keep
       /etc/group up-to-date.

SEE ALSO         top

       chgrp(1), gpasswd(1), groups(1), login(1), newgrp(1), sg(1),
       getgrent(3), getgrnam(3), gshadow(5), passwd(5), vigr(8)

COLOPHON         top

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Linux man-pages 6.15            2025-05-17                       group(5)

Pages that refer to this page: gpasswd(1),  indomcachectl(1),  lslogins(1),  newgrp(1),  sg(1),  fgetgrent(3),  getgrent(3),  getgrent_r(3),  getgrnam(3),  getgrouplist(3),  group_member(3),  putgrent(3),  gshadow(5),  passwd(5),  credentials(7),  grpck(8),  nscd(8),  pwck(8),  rpm(8),  vipw(8)

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