Group (database)
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Group is a name service database used to store group information on Unix-like operating systems. The sources for the group database (and hence the sources for groups on a system) are configured, like other name service databases, in nsswitch.conf.[citation needed] The database file is located at /etc/group. It contains fields representing the group name, group id, encrypted password, and users belonging to the group. These fields are stored in a structure defined in the header file <grp.h>.[1]Template:R/superscript
Seeing available groups on a Unix system
The contents of the group database (and available groups) can be seen with a variety of tools:
C
The <grp.h> header file contains the functions getgrgid and getgrname to look up a group by its ID or Name, as well as the functions setgrent, getgrent, and endgrent to iterate through all groups.[1]
Command line
The getent command can be used to fetch group information.[citation needed]
Fetching a list of all available groups
getent group
Fetching a specific group
For a specific group called 'users':
getent group users
Python
- grp - The Group Database — a Python module
References
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- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stevens, W. Richard; Rago, Stephen A. (2013). Advanced programming in the UNIX environment (third ed.). Upper Saddle River (NJ): Addison-Wesley. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-0-321-63773-4.
