🐧 nixCraft → Howto → FreeBSD → How to check list of users in Unix
How to check list of users in Unix
Author: Vivek Gite • Last updated: July 17, 2020 • 4 comments
I
am a new Unix system user. How can I view system users in
Unix operating system using the command line option?
The password file /etc/passwd contains one line for each user
account. The passwd files are the local source of password
information. Some system stores encrypted passwords in a separate file for
security reasons. For example, on a FreeBSD you have /etc/master.passwd or
on a Linux you have /etc/shadow file. The /etc/group file is the local source of
group information/membership. This tutorial explains how to check the list of
users in Unix operating system such as macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD,
Unix-like system.
Command to check list of users in Unix
On a FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD and many other Unix-like system, just type
the following cat command/more command/less command to get a list of all user
accounts:
$ cat /etc/passwd
$ more /etc/passwd
$ less /etc/passwd
Sample outputs:
Understanding file format
Consider the last line:
vnstat:*:284:284:vnStat Network Monitor:/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin
Where,
1.
vnstat
– User name
2.
*
3.
284
– UID (User id)
4.
284
– GID (Group id)
5.
vnStat Network Monitor
6.
/nonexistent
7.
/usr/sbin/nologin
– Encrypted password is stored in a in a separate file
– General information about the user
– User’s home directory
– User’s login shell
How to just display a list of user names
Use the cut command as follows:
$ cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd
OR use awk command:
$ awk -F':' '{ print $1}' /etc/passwd
Sample outputs:
root
daemon
operator
bin
build
sshd
....
_iscsid
_smtpq
_file
_radiusd
_eigrpd
_vmd
_tftp_proxy
_ftp_proxy
_sndiop
_syspatch
_slaacd
nobody
vivek
How do I search for a given user name such as vivek
Use the grep command as follows:
$ grep '^userNameHere' /etc/passwd
$ grep '^vivek' /etc/passwd
Sample outputs:
vivek:*:1001:1001:vivek:/home/vivek:/bin/tcsh
How to use getent command to find out a list of
users
To get entries from administrative database such as /etc/passwd use the getent
command as follows:
$ getent passwd
$ getent passwd | more
$ getent passwd | grep vivek
A note about macOS Unix users
If you are using a macOS, try the following command to check list of users in
Unix cli (open the Terminal app and type the following bash command):
$ dscl . list /Users
OR
$ dscacheutil -q user
The dscl is a general-purpose utility for operating on Directory Service directory
nodes.
How to find which Unix users are logged in and
what they are doing
Type the following w command/who command:
$ w
OR
$ who
How do I see available list of groups on my
server?
Type any one of the following command:
$ more /etc/group
$ less /etc/group
$ grep vivek /etc/group
Display Unix account information using logins
command
The logins command shows information about user and system accounts. All
you have to do is type the following command:
$ logins
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root
0
wheel
0
Charlie &
toor
0
wheel
0
Bourne-again Superuser
daemon
1
daemon
1
Owner of many system pro
operator
2
operator
5
System &
bin
3
bin
7
Binaries Commands and So
tty
4
nogroup
65533
Tty Sandbox
kmem
5
nogroup
65533
KMem Sandbox
games
7
games
13
Games pseudo-user
news
8
news
8
News Subsystem
man
9
man
9
Mister Man Pages
sshd
22
sshd
22
Secure Shell Daemon
smmsp
25
smmsp
25
Sendmail Submission Use
mailnull
26
mailnull
26
Sendmail Default User
bind
53
bind
53
Bind Sandbox
unbound
59
unbound
59
Unbound DNS Resolver
proxy
62
proxy
62
Packet Filter pseudo-use
_pflogd
64
_pflogd
64
pflogd privsep user
_dhcp
65
_dhcp
65
dhcp programs
uucp
66
uucp
66
UUCP pseudo-user
pop
68
mail
6
Post Office Owner
auditdistd
78
audit
77
Auditdistd unprivileged
www
80
www
80
World Wide Web Owner
_ypldap
160
_ypldap
160
YP LDAP unprivileged use
hast
845
hast
845
HAST unprivileged user
tests
977
tests
977
Unprivileged user for te
vivek
1001
vivek
1001
Vivek Gite
nobody
65534
nobody
65534
Unprivileged user
To get information about the password change and user account expiration
times, run:
$ logins -a
Only find and display information about tom and jerry accounts:
$ logins -l userName
$ logins -l tom,jerry
Want to see Unix user accounts with no password? Pass the
-p
option:
$ logins -p
Finally, we can see information about each account’s home directory and shell
such as csh, ksh, bash and more:
$ logins -x
$ logins -x -l vivek
vivek
1001
vivek
1001
Vivek Gite
/home/vivek
/bin/tcsh
Conclusion
Linux Command: List All Users In The System
Man pages: logins(1)
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Comments on this entry are closed.
nasewei • Jan 2, 2018 @ 12:44
what about “logins”-command?
link
🐧 Vivek Gite • Jul 17, 2020 @ 18:06
I added logins command too. Thanks!
link
Bibo • Jul 18, 2020 @ 17:23
Hi Vivek,
I checked the logins cmd on Debian 10 (Buster) …
it seems to me the cmd is here “lslogins” and the
output looks a little bit different …
link
🐧 Vivek Gite • Jul 18, 2020 @ 18:15
yes, that is expected as GNU/Linux is not Unix.
link
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