GROUP(5)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                  GROUP(5)



NAME
       group - user group file

DESCRIPTION
       The  /etc/group file is a text file that defines the groups on the sys-
       tem.  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
       /etc/group

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

SEE ALSO
       chgrp(1),  gpasswd(1),  groups(1),  login(1),  newgrp(1),  sg(1),  get-
       grent(3), getgrnam(3), gshadow(5), passwd(5), vigr(8)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 4.16 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
       latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
       https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.



Linux                             2018-04-30                          GROUP(5)