group(5)                      File Formats Manual                     group(5)

NAME
       group - user group file

DESCRIPTION
       The /etc/group file is a text file that defines the groups on the
       system.  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),
       getgrent(3), getgrnam(3), gshadow(5), passwd(5), vigr(8)

Linux man-pages 6.7               2023-10-31                          group(5)