.\" Copyright (c) 1993 Michael Haardt (michael@moria.de),
.\"     Fri Apr  2 11:32:09 MET DST 1993
.\"
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.\" Modified Sat Jul 24 17:06:03 1993 by Rik Faith (faith@cs.unc.edu)
.TH GROUP 5 2010-10-21 "Linux" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
group \- user group file
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.I /etc/group
file is a text file that defines the groups on the system.
There is one entry per line, with the following format:
.sp
.RS
group_name:password:GID:user_list
.RE
.sp
The fields are as follows:
.TP 12
.I group_name
the name of the group.
.TP
.I password
the (encrypted) group password.
If this field is empty, no password is needed.
.TP
.I GID
the numeric group ID.
.TP
.I user_list
a list of the usernames that are members of this group, separated by commas.
.SH FILES
/etc/group
.SH BUGS
As the 4.2BSD
.BR initgroups (3)
man page says: No-one seems to keep
.I /etc/group
up-to-date.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR login (1),
.BR newgrp (1),
.BR getgrent (3),
.BR getgrnam (3),
.BR passwd (5)