groups and users

twb2005 · 10-10-2005, 01:27 PM

I am new to linux. I am trying to get a display of all the users that have been created as well as groups. This is being done at the terminal.I believe the folder is etc/group. Any help would be great Thanks
TWB

reddazz · 10-10-2005, 01:34 PM

Code:

#cat /etc/passwd
#cat /etc/group

twb2005 · 10-10-2005, 01:41 PM

This gives me a file that has a extreme amount of data. I am looking to just display the users and groups. In this case I have about 5 users and 2 groups. Thanks

init100 · 10-10-2005, 05:13 PM

You can always use the head and tail commands to limit the number of lines that are displayed. These commands display the first and last 10 rows of /etc/passwd and /etc/groups respectively:

Code:

# head -10 /etc/passwd
# tail -10 /etc/passwd
# head -10 /etc/group
# tail -10 /etc/group

In Fedora Core 4, which I am using, there is a GUI application under

Desktop->System Settings->Users and Groups

that probably does what you want. It displays (and allows you to edit) the ordinary users and groups on the system, without showing the various system users and groups.

twb2005 · 10-10-2005, 05:35 PM

Thanks init100
The reason Im using the terminal is just to familiarize myself with the command line. I tried your command, however my problem is that when I open this file /ect/passwd or etc/group I get a lot of data that seems to be unrelated to what I am looking for. There is approx 70 or so lines, when all I really want is a list of the few or so users there is. Im trying to filter this all out so I just get a list of the users with their relevant data.
Thanks
twb2005

Kristijan · 10-10-2005, 05:55 PM

twb2005,

You can try something like this;

Code:

awk -F: '{ print $1 }' /etc/passwd

A basic rundown on how it works.

awk bascially scans for patterns and sequences, and then handles the input accordingly.

-F: tells awk what to use as the field seperator. Take the following example of an /etc/passwd file.

Code:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:x:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:x:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:x:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync

As you can see, the field seperator in the /etc/passwd file is the semicolon (:). This is what we need to tell awk to use as a seperator.

'{ print $1 }' tells awk to print the first column (The user column).

/etc/passwd is the file we want processed by awk.

This should help get you on your way.

Regards,
-Kristijan

init100 · 10-10-2005, 06:08 PM

twb2005,

Familiarizing yourself with the command line is a very good idea, for several reasons:

The command line is a very powerful tool in its own right
Using the command line is almost necessary to take advantage of the powerful remote-login capabilities using e.g. SSH
Knowing the command line allows you to repair the system if your graphical display stops working
It allows you to administer headless (screenless) servers

twb2005 · 10-10-2005, 06:21 PM

Thanks Kristijan
That looks like a good start for me, thanks for the detailed information.

Thanks init100
Thats why Im doing it. I have a remote loginin set up on a small home N/W and learning with it