Home/ Questions/Q 7547
Next
In Process

askthedev.com Latest Questions

Asked: 2024-09-25T16:26:47+05:30 In:

What command can I use to display a list of all users along with their corresponding UIDs in a Linux system?

I’ve been diving deeper into Linux lately, and I stumbled upon an interesting situation I thought I’d share with you all. So, I was trying to manage some user accounts on my Linux system—more specifically, I wanted to get a sense of who all the users were. I mean, we all know that keeping track of users and their UIDs is crucial, especially if you’re managing a multi-user environment or just ensuring that everything is organized.

But here’s where I hit a bit of a wall. I know there are a few commands that can yield information about users, but I wasn’t sure which one would give me a clear list of all users along with their corresponding UIDs. I could have spent ages poking around in the /etc/passwd file or trying different commands, but I thought, why not reach out to the community for a quicker answer?

I remember asking a friend who works more with Linux than I do, and he mentioned something about a command that does exactly what I’m looking for. However, I couldn’t quite remember what it was he said—classic me, right? So now I’m digging through man pages and trying to refresh my memory, but it feels like a wild goose chase.

If anyone here has the answer, I’d love to hear it! What command would you run in a terminal to get a neat list of all users on the system alongside their UIDs? And maybe if you’re feeling generous, it would be great if you could share a bit about how the command works or even what the output looks like.

I’m sure this is a straightforward question for many of you seasoned Linux pros out there, but honestly, I’m kind of stuck. Might as well tap into your expertise! Who knows, maybe you can save me from diving deep into the manual pages after all. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Share

    Leave an answer

    You must login to add an answer.

    Need An Account,

    2 Answers






    1. User Management in Linux

      Finding Users and UIDs in Linux

      I get where you’re coming from! Managing user accounts can sometimes feel like a maze if you’re not used to it. Luckily, there is a quick command that can help you see all users along with their User IDs (UIDs) without having to dig too deep into configuration files.

      The Command

      You can simply use the following command:

      cut -d: -f1,3 /etc/passwd

      This command will give you a nice list of all users and their UIDs. Here’s how it works:

      • cut: This command is used to extract sections from each line of input.
      • -d: This option specifies the delimiter, which is : in the case of the /etc/passwd file.
      • -f1,3: This means you’re pulling out the first and third fields, which correspond to the username and UID.

      The Output

      If you run the command, you’ll see output similar to this:

      username1:1001
username2:1002
username3:1003

      Each line shows a username followed by their UID, separated by a colon, making it pretty easy to read.

      There are other commands like getent passwd that can also do this, but the cut method is super straightforward. Hope this helps you out and saves you some time from scouring through those man pages!


    2. To get a clear list of all users on your Linux system along with their corresponding UIDs, you can use the command cut in combination with /etc/passwd. The command you’re looking for is:

      cut -d: -f1,3 /etc/passwd

      This command works by cutting through the /etc/passwd file, which contains user account details formatted in a colon-separated manner. Here, -d: specifies the delimiter (the colon), and -f1,3 tells it to fetch the first and third fields, which correspond to the username and UID respectively. When you run this command in your terminal, you’ll receive output that lists each user’s name alongside their UID, making it straightforward to keep track of users on your system without diving too deep into manual pages.

    Related Questions