# userdel(8) - man - phpman > **TLDR:** Remove a user account or remove a user from a group. > - Remove a user: `sudo userdel {{username}}` - Remove a user in other root directory: `sudo userdel {{-R|--root}} {{path/to/other_root}} {{username}}` - Remove a user along with the home directory and mail spool: `sudo userdel {{-r|--remove}} {{username}}` *Source: tldr-pages* --- [USERDEL(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/USERDEL/8/markdown) System Management Commands [USERDEL(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/USERDEL/8/markdown) ## NAME userdel - delete a user account and related files ## SYNOPSIS **userdel** [options] _LOGIN_ ## DESCRIPTION **userdel** is a low level utility for removing users. On Debian, administrators should usually use [**deluser**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/deluser/8/markdown) instead. The **userdel** command modifies the system account files, deleting all entries that refer to the user name _LOGIN_. The named user must exist. ## OPTIONS The options which apply to the **userdel** command are: ### -f --force This option forces the removal of the user account, even if the user is still logged in. It also forces **userdel** to remove the user's home directory and mail spool, even if another user uses the same home directory or if the mail spool is not owned by the specified user. If **USERGROUPS**___**ENAB** is defined to _yes_ in /etc/login.defs and if a group exists with the same name as the deleted user, then this group will be removed, even if it is still the primary group of another user. _Note:_ This option is dangerous and may leave your system in an inconsistent state. ### -h --help Display help message and exit. ### -r --remove Files in the user's home directory will be removed along with the home directory itself and the user's mail spool. Files located in other file systems will have to be searched for and deleted manually. The mail spool is defined by the **MAIL**___**DIR** variable in the login.defs file. ### -R --root Apply changes in the _CHROOT_DIR_ directory and use the configuration files from the _CHROOT_DIR_ directory. ### -P --prefix Apply changes in the _PREFIX_DIR_ directory and use the configuration files from the _PREFIX_DIR_ directory. This option does not chroot and is intended for preparing a cross-compilation target. Some limitations: NIS and LDAP users/groups are not verified. PAM authentication is using the host files. No SELINUX support. ### -Z --selinux-user Remove any SELinux user mapping for the user's login. ## CONFIGURATION The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool: ### MAIL___DIR (string) The mail spool directory. This is needed to manipulate the mailbox when its corresponding user account is modified or deleted. If not specified, a compile-time default is used. ### MAIL___FILE (string) Defines the location of the users mail spool files relatively to their home directory. The **MAIL**___**DIR** and **MAIL**___**FILE** variables are used by **useradd**, **usermod**, and **userdel** to create, move, or delete the user's mail spool. ### MAX___MEMBERS___PER___GROUP (number) Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new group entry (line) is started in /etc/group (with the same name, same password, and same GID). The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the number of members in a group. This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in the group file. This is useful to make sure that lines for NIS groups are not larger than 1024 characters. If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25. Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this variable unless you really need it. ### USERDEL___CMD (string) If defined, this command is run when removing a user. It should remove any at/cron/print jobs etc. owned by the user to be removed (passed as the first argument). The return code of the script is not taken into account. Here is an example script, which removes the user's cron, at and print jobs: #! /bin/sh # Check for the required argument. if [ $# != 1 ]; then echo "Usage: $0 username" exit 1 fi # Remove cron jobs. crontab -r -u $1 # Remove at jobs. # Note that it will remove any jobs owned by the same UID, # even if it was shared by a different username. AT_SPOOL_DIR=/var/spool/cron/atjobs find $AT_SPOOL_DIR -name "[^.]*" -type f -user $1 -delete \; # Remove print jobs. lprm $1 # All done. exit 0 ### USERGROUPS___ENAB (boolean) If set to _yes_, **userdel** will remove the user's group if it contains no more members, and **useradd** will create by default a group with the name of the user. ## FILES /etc/group Group account information. /etc/login.defs Shadow password suite configuration. /etc/passwd User account information. /etc/shadow Secure user account information. /etc/subgid Per user subordinate group IDs. /etc/subuid Per user subordinate user IDs. ## EXIT VALUES The **userdel** command exits with the following values: _0_ success _1_ can't update password file _2_ invalid command syntax _6_ specified user doesn't exist _8_ user currently logged in _10_ can't update group file _12_ can't remove home directory ## CAVEATS **userdel** will not allow you to remove an account if there are running processes which belong to this account. In that case, you may have to kill those processes or lock the user's password or account and remove the account later. The **-f** option can force the deletion of this account. You should manually check all file systems to ensure that no files remain owned by this user. You may not remove any NIS attributes on a NIS client. This must be performed on the NIS server. If **USERGROUPS**___**ENAB** is defined to _yes_ in /etc/login.defs, **userdel** will delete the group with the same name as the user. To avoid inconsistencies in the passwd and group databases, **userdel** will check that this group is not used as a primary group for another user, and will just warn without deleting the group otherwise. The **-f** option can force the deletion of this group. ## SEE ALSO [**chfn**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/chfn/1/markdown), [**chsh**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/chsh/1/markdown), [**passwd**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/passwd/1/markdown), [**login.defs**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/login.defs/5/markdown), [**gpasswd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/gpasswd/8/markdown), [**groupadd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/groupadd/8/markdown), [**groupdel**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/groupdel/8/markdown), [**groupmod**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/groupmod/8/markdown), [**subgid**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/subgid/5/markdown), [**subuid**(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/subuid/5/markdown), [**useradd**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/useradd/8/markdown), [**usermod**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/usermod/8/markdown). shadow-utils 4.8.1 02/06/2024 [USERDEL(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/USERDEL/8/markdown)