man > group(5)

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)