Group (database)


group is a name service database used to store group information on Unix-like operating systems. The sources for the group database are configured, like other name service databases, in nsswitch.conf.

Seeing available groups on a Unix system

The contents of the group database can be seen with a variety of tools:

Command line

The getent command can be used to fetch group information.

Fetching a list of all available groups


getent group

Fetching a specific group

For a specific group called 'users':

getent group users

Python