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passwd(4)
NAME
  passwd - Password files

DESCRIPTION
  A passwd file is a file consisting of records separated by newline
  characters, one record per user, containing seven colon (:) separated
  fields.  These fields are as follows:

  name
      User's login name.  The default length is 8 characters.

  password
      User's encrypted password.

  uid User's ID

  gid User's login group ID

  gecos
      General information about the user

  home_dir
      User's home directory

  shell
      User's login shell

  The name field is the login used to access the computer account, and the
  uid field is the number associated with it.  They should both be unique
  across the system (and often across a group of systems) since they control
  file access.

  While it is possible to have multiple entries with identical login names
  and/or identical user gid's, it is usually a mistake to do so.  Routines
  that manipulate these files will often return only one of the multiple
  entries, and that one by random selection.

  The login name must never begin with a hyphen (-); also, it is strongly
  suggested that neither uppercase characters or dots (.) be part of the
  name, as this tends to confuse mailers.  No field may contain a colon (:)
  as this has been used historically to separate the fields in the user
  database.

  The password field is the encrypted form of the password. If the password
  field is empty, no password is required to gain access to the machine.
  Because these files contain the encrypted user passwords, they should not
  be readable by anyone without appropriate privileges.

  Use the vipw command to edit password entries.  This ensures that the
  hashed password database is rebuilt.

				 Security Note

       If you have enhanced security installed on your system, the password
       field contains an asterisk (*). The encrypted password is stored in
       the user's protected password database.

  The gid field is the group that the user will be placed in upon login.
  Since the operating system supports multiple groups (see the groups
  command) this field currently has little special meaning.

  The gecos field normally contains comma (,) separated subfields as follows:

  name
      User's full name

  office
      User's office number

  wphone
      User's work phone number

  hphone
      User's home phone number

  This information is used by the finger command.

  The user's home directory is the full UNIX pathname where the user will be
  placed on login.

  The shell field is the command interpreter the user prefers. If the shell
  field is empty, the Bourne shell (/bin/sh) is assumed.

  The allowable values for the UID are unsigned numbers from 0 to 65535.

  The command pwck can be used to verify the accuracy of data entered in the
  passwd file.

EXAMPLES
       root:TZVtfX5VbS3KY:0:1:System PRIVILEGED Account,,,:/:/bin/sh
       adm:*:5:16:Admin Login:/usr/adm:/bin/sh
       operator:HdgoklKwZOlvU:25:28:System PRIVILEGED Account,,,:/etc/operator:
       guest:Nologin:-2:-2:anonymous NFS user:/:/bin/date
       osfuser:If2eoZ6gmghJo:50002:15:Osf User:/usr/users/osfuser:/bin/csh
       marcy:*:201:20:Marcy Swanson,dev,x1234:/usr/users/marcy:/bin/sh

SEE ALSO
  Functions: getpwent(3)

  Commands: login(1), passwd(1), pwck(8), vipw(8)

  Files: prpasswd(4)

Index for Section 4

Alphabetical listing for P

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