Linux viewing user groups

7 methods to list user groups in Linux? [SOLVED]

In operating systems, applications add their own users and groups to the system. From an administrative point of view, this makes it easier for users. Adding users to the application group is the easiest way to edit privileges. As a matter of fact, systems such as LDAP and Active Directory are also built on this method.

There are many methods of listing groups in Linux. In some methods, group information is accessed from the user, while in some methods, users are accessed from group information. We will tell you some of the most used methods with examples.

Method-1: Using groups command

When you run the groups command without any parameters, it lists the group information of the user who opened the terminal:

foc@fedora:~$ groups foc wheel

If you type a username after the group command, the groups belonging to that user are listed:

foc@fedora:~$ groups golinux golinux : golinux

In this method, groups are listed with user information.

Method-2: Using id command

Like the group command, the id command, when executed without parameters, lists the active user’s groups. But this time group id are also displayed:

foc@fedora:~$ id uid=1000(foc) gid=1000(foc) groups=1000(foc),10(wheel)

By typing the username after the id command, the groups belonging to that user are listed with their ids:

foc@fedora:~$ id golinux uid=1001(golinux) gid=1001(golinux) groups=1001(golinux)

As the user’s group information increases, the information displayed on the screen may not be understood. With the parameters of the ID command, the output can be made more understandable. For example, to list all group ids and names:

foc@fedora:~$ id -Gn golinux golinux

You can get help from the —help page for all its parameters:

foc@fedora:~$ id --help Usage: id [OPTION]. [USER]. Print user and group information for each specified USER, or (when USER omitted) for the current user. -a ignore, for compatibility with other versions -Z, --context print only the security context of the process -g, --group print only the effective group ID -G, --groups print all group IDs -n, --name print a name instead of a number, for -ugG -r, --real print the real ID instead of the effective ID, with -ugG -u, --user print only the effective user ID

Again in this method, groups are listed with their user information.

Method-3: Using getent command

The getent command pulls information from the group database. If there is no central system such as LDAP, Active Directory, it will pull from the local database.

You can pull groups by typing group after getent command:

foc@fedora:~$ getent group root:x:0: bin:x:1: . disk:x:6: lp:x:7: mem:x:8: kmem:x:9: wheel:x:10:foc cdrom:x:11: mail:x:12:

To list users in a group, you must type the group name:

foc@fedora:~$ getent group wheel wheel:x:10:foc

To list all groups in the system without details:

foc@fedora:~$ getent group | cut -d: -f1 root bin disk lp mem kmem wheel cdrom mail 

This method lists both groups and users in that group.

Method-4: Using /etc/group file

On Linux the group information is in the /etc/group file. If a user is added or removed from the group, this file changes.

When you view this file with file view commands like cat , it gives a complex output. To list group information, you can write it like this:

foc@fedora:~$ cut -d: -f1 /etc/group root bin . lp mem kmem wheel . tape video ftp 

For the total number of groups:

foc@fedora:~$ cat /etc/group | grep -c "" 82

Using awk command we can extract the group names from the /etc/group file using the colon ( : ) delimiter.

Method-5: Using compgen command

Another command you can use to list groups in Linux is compgen . You can list the groups in the system with the -g parameter:

[foc@rocky9 ~]$ compgen -g root bin wheel ftp lock audio users nobody foc 

Method-6: Using lid command

This command displays information about the specified group, including the GID, group password (if any), and members.

# lid -g nagios nagios(uid=1001) apache(uid=48) snmptt(uid=974)

Method-7: Using dscl command (On MacOS)

Using the dscl command on macOS. This command displays information about the specified group on macOS.

dscl . -read /Groups/groupname

Bonus Tip

If you want to list the groups of users logged into the system, you can use the following for loop:

[foc@rocky9 ~]$ for user in $(cat /etc/passwd | grep bash | awk -F: '');do groups $user; done root : root foc : foc wheel

Note: Bash was chosen as the default shell. If a different shell(zsh,sh etc) is used, it can be written after the grep command.

What is NEXT?

Summary

There is always an alternative on Linux. We have explained different ways to list groups in Linux for you. The commands and methods used may vary according to habits. You can use whichever method is faster and easier for you. Of course the choice is yours.

You can get help with the -h/—help parameter for each command. For more detailed information, you can also access the man page of the commands as in the example:

foc@fedora:~$ man id NAME id - print real and effective user and group IDs SYNOPSIS id [OPTION]. [USER]. .

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How to find out what group a given user has?

This appears to be pretty useful as well. It has more verbose output than the ‘groups’ command, so if you need the group id/user id use this!

On Linux/OS X/Unix to display the groups to which you (or the optionally specified user) belong, use:

which is equivalent to groups [user] utility which has been obsoleted on Unix.

On OS X/Unix, the command id -p [user] is suggested for normal interactive.

Explanation on the parameters:

-G , —groups — print all group IDs

-n , —name — print a name instead of a number, for -ugG

-p — Make the output human-readable.

or just study /etc/groups (ok this does probably not work if it uses pam with ldap)

Below is the script which is integrated into ansible and generating dashboard in CSV format.

sh collection.sh #!/bin/bash HOSTNAME=`hostname -s` for i in `cat /etc/passwd| grep -vE "nologin|shutd|hal|sync|root|false"|awk -F':' '' | sed 's/[[:space:]]/,/g'`; do groups $i; done|sed s/\:/\,/g|tr -d ' '|sed -e "s/^/$HOSTNAME,/"> /tmp/"$HOSTNAME"_inventory.txt sudo cat /etc/sudoers| grep -v "^#"|awk ''|grep -v Defaults|sed '/^$/d;s/[[:blank:]]//g'>/tmp/"$HOSTNAME"_sudo.txt paste -d , /tmp/"$HOSTNAME"_inventory.txt /tmp/"$HOSTNAME"_sudo.txt|sed 's/,[[:blank:]]*$//g' >/tmp/"$HOSTNAME"_inventory_users.txt 

My output stored in below text files.

cat /tmp/ANSIBLENODE_sudo.txt cat /tmp/ANSIBLENODE_inventory.txt cat /tmp/ANSIBLENODE_inventory_users.txt 

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How to List User Groups on Ubuntu Linux with examples

This brief tutorial shows students and new users how to list groups on Ubuntu 18.04 | 16.04 Linux systems.

If you’re a student or new user looking for a Linux system to start learning on, the most accessible place to start is on Ubuntu Linux OS. It’s a great Linux operating system for beginners.

Ubuntu is an open-source Linux operating system that runs on desktops, laptops, servers, and other devices.

Ubuntu and Windows systems allow you to be productive, easy to use, and reliable and enable you to install and run thousands of programs from gaming to productivity suite software for individuals and businesses.

This post shows you how to perform the primary task of listing groups on Ubuntu Linux.

Linux Groups:

There are two types of groups users can be assigned to. One is a primary, and the other is a second group that grants privileges to users to access specific resources.

Below is how a typical Linux user account is added and assigned group memberships:

User — A user with an account must belong to one primary group. The user’s primary group is typically named after the user account name.
Primary Group — The primary group is created simultaneously when the user account is created, and the user is automatically added to it. The file created by the user automatically belongs to the user group.
Secondary Group — This group is not required and is only there to give users access to other resources they don’t already have access to. Users can belong to one or as many secondary groups are possible.

The primary user’s group is stored in the /etc/passwd file, and the supplementary groups, if any, are listed in the /etc/group file.

List User Groups using the group’s command

Now that you know the types of groups for users, you can use the groups command to find the groups a user belongs to. Running the groups command without arguments will list all the groups the user belongs to.

Should output all the groups the account richard belongs to. The primary group is the first group with the same name as the user account name.

Ouput: richard adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare

To list all the groups a user belongs, add the username to the group’s command

This should output the same as above

Output richard : richard adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev lpadmin sambashare

List User Groups using the id command

One can also use the id command to list group information about the specified user. It prints user and group information for the specified USER,

The command will show the username (uid), the user’s primary group (gid), and the user’s secondary groups (groups)

Should output the line below:

Output: uid=1000(richard) gid=1000(richard) groups=1000(richard),4(adm),24(cdrom),27(sudo),30(dip),46(plugdev),116(lpadmin),126(sambashare)

List Group Membership using the getent command

If you want to know a particular group’s members, use the getent command. This command gets entries from the administrative database.

To get a membership of the cdrom group, run the command below

This should output all the users who have access to the cdrom group.

Listing All Groups

To list the entire groups on Ubuntu, run the command below

That should output all the groups on each line

root:x:0: daemon:x:1: bin:x:2: sys:x:3: adm:x:4:syslog,richard tty:x:5: disk:x:6: lp:x:7: mail:x:8: news:x:9: uucp:x:10: man:x:12: proxy:x:13: kmem:x:15: dialout:x:20: fax:x:21: voice:x:22: cdrom:x:24:richard floppy:x:25: tape:x:26: sudo:x:27:richard audio:x:29:pulse dip:x:30:richard .

Congratulations! You have learned how to list groups on Ubuntu Linux.

Richard W

I love computers; maybe way too much. What I learned I try to share at geekrewind.com.

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