There are commands to create in Linux, delete user, add a user to group, and see logged in user but Is there any command to list users in Linux?
No, there is no command to list users in Linux.
Now, what will you do if you want to see available users in your Linux system/server?
This article is all about to list users in Linux using some other commands and tricks.
- Get a users in from /etc/ file
- Use command to see list users in
- Check the of in the Linux system
- Normal users and System Users
- Conclusion
Get a users in Linux from /etc/ file
User information is saved in /etc/ file. this file contains one line for each user account. you can easily get list users from /etc/password file using of cat command and grep command.
$cat /etc/
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$cat /etc/passwd root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/usr/sbin/nologin bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/usr/sbin/nologin sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/usr/sbin/nologin sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync games:x:5:60:games:/usr/games:/usr/sbin/nologin man:x:6:12:man:/var/cache/man:/usr/sbin/nologin lp:x:7:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/usr/sbin/nologin mail:x:8:8:mail:/var/mail:/usr/sbin/nologin news:x:9:9:news:/var/spool/news:/usr/sbin/nologin uucp:x:10:10:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/usr/sbin/nologin proxy:x:13:13:proxy:/bin:/usr/sbin/nologin www-data:x:33:33:www-data:/var/www:/usr/sbin/nologin backup:x:34:34:backup:/var/backups:/usr/sbin/nologin list:x:38:38:Mailing List Manager:/var/list:/usr/sbin/nologin irc:x:39:39:ircd:/var/run/ircd:/usr/sbin/nologin gnats:x:41:41:Gnats Bug-Reporting System (admin):/var/lib/gnats:/usr/sbin/nologin nobody:x:65534:65534:nobody:/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin systemd-timesync:x:100:102:systemd Time Synchronization,,,:/run/systemd:/usr/sbin/nologin systemd-network:x:101:103:systemd Network Management,,,:/run/systemd:/usr/sbin/nologin systemd-resolve:x:102:104:systemd Resolver,,,:/run/systemd:/usr/sbin/nologin messagebus:x:103:106::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin syslog:x:104:109::/home/syslog:/usr/sbin/nologin _apt:x:105:65534::/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin uuidd:x:106:113::/run/uuidd:/usr/sbin/nologin avahi-autoipd:x:107:115:Avahi autoip daemon,,,:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/usr/sbin/nologin usbmux:x:108:46:usbmux daemon,,,:/var/lib/usbmux:/usr/sbin/nologin rtkit:x:109:116:RealtimeKit,,,:/proc:/usr/sbin/nologin dnsmasq:x:110:65534:dnsmasq,,,:/var/lib/misc:/usr/sbin/nologin cups-pk-helper:x:111:118:user for cups-pk-helper service,,,:/home/cups-pk-helper:/usr/sbin/nologin speech-dispatcher:x:112:29:Speech Dispatcher,,,:/var/run/speech-dispatcher:/bin/false kernoops:x:113:65534:Kernel Oops Tracking Daemon,,,:/:/usr/sbin/nologin avahi:x:114:120:Avahi mDNS daemon,,,:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/usr/sbin/nologin saned:x:115:121::/var/lib/saned:/usr/sbin/nologin nm-openvpn:x:116:122:NetworkManager OpenVPN,,,:/var/lib/openvpn/chroot:/usr/sbin/nologin whoopsie:x:117:123::/nonexistent:/bin/false colord:x:118:124:colord colour management daemon,,,:/var/lib/colord:/usr/sbin/nologin hplip:x:119:7:HPLIP system user,,,:/var/run/hplip:/bin/false geoclue:x:120:125::/var/lib/geoclue:/usr/sbin/nologin pulse:x:121:126:PulseAudio daemon,,,:/var/run/pulse:/usr/sbin/nologin gnome-initial-setup:x:122:65534::/run/gnome-initial-setup/:/bin/false gdm:x:123:128:Gnome Display Manager:/var/lib/gdm3:/bin/false vijay:x:1000:1000:Vijay,,,:/home/vijay:/bin/bash systemd-coredump:x:999:999:systemd Core Dumper:/:/sbin/nologin cyrage:x:1001:1001:Cyrage,,,:/home/cyrage:/bin/bash ram:x:1002:1002::/home/ram:/bin/sh ansh:x:1003:1003::/home/ansh:/bin/sh nonu:x:1004:1004::/data/project/:/bin/sh surya:x:1200:1004::/home/surya:/bin/sh anshika:x:1201:1201::/home/anshika:/bin/sh hema:x:1202:1202::/home/hema:/bin/sh amit:x:1203:1203:Amitabh Bachhan:/home/amit:/bin/sh nitin:x:1204:100::/home/nitin:/bin/sh vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
This command will show all fields and content of this file, The first field of the line consist username. other fields contain the following information
- User name
- Encrypted password (x means that the password is stored in the /etc/shadow file)
- User ID number (UID)
- User’s group ID number (GID)
- Full name of the user (GECOS)
- User home directory
- Login shell (defaults to /bin/bash)
If you want to display only first field () form file then use awk or cut command.
$awk -F: ‘{ print $1}’ /etc/passwd
$cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$wk -F: '{ print $1}' /etc/passwd
root
daemon
bin
sys
sync
games
man
lp
mail
news
uucp
proxy
www-data
backup
list
irc
gnats
nobody
systemd-timesync
systemd-network
systemd-resolve
messagebus
syslog
_apt
uuidd
avahi-autoipd
usbmux
rtkit
dnsmasq
cups-pk-helper
speech-dispatcher
kernoops
avahi
saned
nm-openvpn
whoopsie
colord
hplip
geoclue
pulse
gnome-initial-setup
gdm
vijay
systemd-coredump
cyrage
ram
ansh
nonu
surya
anshika
hema
amit
nitin
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
If you save users list in then use command.
This method is useful when your boss Linux to send a list of users of system/server. I save the output into users.txt and userlist.txt
To see the data from the file use cat command.
$awk -F: ‘{ print $1}’ /etc/passwd >users.txt
$cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd >userslist.txt
$cat users.txt
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$awk -F: '{ print $1}' /etc/passwd >users.txt
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
File is created in current directory name users.txt, if you want to save another location give the full path instead of users.txt
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$ls Desktop Downloads Music Pictures resume.doc users.txt Documents examples.desktop old_data Public Templates Videos vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
More formated awk command to retrieve the and other information from /etc/ file
$ awk -F”:” ‘{print “Login:” $1 “\tName:” $5 “\tHome:” $6}’ /etc/passwd
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$awk -F":" '{print "Login:" $1 "\tName:" $5 "\tHome:" $6}' /etc/passwd
Login:root Name:root Home:/root
Login:daemon Name:daemon Home:/usr/sbin
Login:bin Name:bin Home:/bin
Login:sys Name:sys Home:/dev
Login:sync Name:sync Home:/bin
Login:games Name:games Home:/usr/games
Login:man Name:man Home:/var/cache/man
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
Use command to see list users
is a utility used to fetch data entries form databases supported by the Name Service Library. In Linux, this dataasese is configured into /etc/.conf file including .
To get users list by type the syntax.
getent passwd
$getent passwd | awk -F: ‘{ print $1}’
$getent passwd | cut -d: -f1
To Check total users on your system in numbers use the following command
$getent passwd | wc -l
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$getent passwd | wc -l 53 vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
Total users on my systems are 53 only.
Check the existence of a user in the Linux system
If you have very long list of users, some time may be 1000 (It is possible, because server has 1000s users). a will you know exists in your system/server or not?
For example, Your hr madam asks “please check john user is exist on your system, having following problem to log in system”
You can use the following command to check whether a user exists in the system or not.
$ | grep john
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$getent passwd | grep vijay vijay:x:1000:1000:Vijay,,,:/home/vijay:/bin/bash vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
If the user exists the command above will print the user’s login information. If there is no output that means the user doesn’t exist means the user doesn’t exist.
Vijay user is exist on this system so it gvie the result. And john user doesn’t exist on this system so no result. See example below:
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$getent passwd | grep john vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
Normal users and System Users
There is no technical difference between normal user and system users. System user is being created default at the time of installation process and have nologin shell.
In other hand normal user is created by system administrator.
UID is the numeric value for each user, in file /etc/. When you run command to create in , select automatically UID for /etc/login.defs. lol
$ grep “^UID_MIN” /etc/login.defs
$ grep UID_MIN /etc/login.defs
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$grep "^UID_MIN" /etc/login.defs UID_MIN 1000 vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$grep UID_MIN /etc/login.defs UID_MIN 1000 #SYS_UID_MIN 100 vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
To check the and user ID’s values on your system. You can use following command:
$grep -E ‘^UID_MIN|^UID_MAX’ /etc/login.defs
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$grep -E '^UID_MIN|^UID_MAX' /etc/login.defs UID_MIN 1000 UID_MAX 60000 vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
Above result, you can see that all normal users have UID between 1000 and 60000.
Following command will be used to list all normal users in your Linux system:
$getent passwd {1000..60000}
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$getent passwd {1000..60000}
vijay:x:1000:1000:Vijay,,,:/home/vijay:/bin/bash
cyrage:x:1001:1001:Cyrage,,,:/home/cyrage:/bin/bash
ram:x:1002:1002::/home/ram:/bin/sh
ansh:x:1003:1003::/home/ansh:/bin/sh
nonu:x:1004:1004::/data/project/:/bin/sh
surya:x:1200:1004::/home/surya:/bin/sh
anshika:x:1201:1201::/home/anshika:/bin/sh
hema:x:1202:1202::/home/hema:/bin/sh
amit:x:1203:1203:Amitabh Bachhan:/home/amit:/bin/sh
nitin:x:1204:100::/home/nitin:/bin/sh
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
In the above result, all users have been created by me in last tutorial How to create user in linux.
Some advanced commands and outputs
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$eval getent passwd {$(awk '/^UID_MIN/ {print $2}' /etc/login.defs)..$(awk '/^UID_MAX/ {print $2}' /etc/login.defs)}
vijay:x:1000:1000:Vijay,,,:/home/vijay:/bin/bash
cyrage:x:1001:1001:Cyrage,,,:/home/cyrage:/bin/bash
ram:x:1002:1002::/home/ram:/bin/sh
ansh:x:1003:1003::/home/ansh:/bin/sh
nonu:x:1004:1004::/data/project/:/bin/sh
surya:x:1200:1004::/home/surya:/bin/sh
anshika:x:1201:1201::/home/anshika:/bin/sh
hema:x:1202:1202::/home/hema:/bin/sh
amit:x:1203:1203:Amitabh Bachhan:/home/amit:/bin/sh
nitin:x:1204:100::/home/nitin:/bin/sh
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$eval getent passwd {$(awk '/^UID_MIN/ {print $2}' /etc/login.defs)..$(awk '/^UID_MAX/ {print $2}' /etc/login.defs)} | cut -d: -f1
vijay
cyrage
ram
ansh
nonu
surya
anshika
hema
amit
nitin
vijay@Ubuntu-19:~$
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you learned how to list users in the Linux system, filter them using different methods. and what are the main differences between system users and normal Linux users?
The same commands apply for any Linux distribution, including Ubuntu, CentOS, RHEL, Debian and Linux Mint.
If you have any question, feel free comment below. You can contact me through vijay@cyberpratibha.com
Cheers