# phpman > info > group

[GROUP(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GROUP/5/markdown)                   Linux Programmer's Manual                  [GROUP(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GROUP/5/markdown)

NAME
       group - user group file

DESCRIPTION
       The  /etc/group file is a text file that defines the groups on the sys-
       tem.  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, sepa-
              rated by commas.

FILES
       /etc/group

BUGS
       As the 4.2BSD [initgroups(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/initgroups/3/markdown)  man  page  says:  no  one  seems  to  keep
       /etc/group up-to-date.

SEE ALSO
       [chgrp(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/chgrp/1/markdown),  [gpasswd(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gpasswd/1/markdown),  [groups(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/groups/1/markdown),  [login(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/login/1/markdown),  [newgrp(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/newgrp/1/markdown),  [sg(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/sg/1/markdown),  get-
       [grent(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/grent/3/markdown), [getgrnam(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/getgrnam/3/markdown), [gshadow(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gshadow/5/markdown), [passwd(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/passwd/5/markdown), [vigr(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vigr/8/markdown)

COLOPHON
       This page is part of release 5.10 of the Linux  man-pages  project.   A
       description  of  the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
       latest    version    of    this    page,    can     be     found     at
       <https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/>.

Linux                             2020-04-11                          [GROUP(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/GROUP/5/markdown)