Beginners Guide for Gpasswd Command on Linux

The gpasswd command is used to administer “/etc/group” and “/etc/gshadow” file but that does not give you the complete context.

In other words, using the gpasswd command, you can add or remove users from a group, add or remove passwords from a group, promote a user as group admin, and set the list of group members.

On a positive note, remember that setting a password for a group is never a good idea for security reasons because all users are required to know the group password.

Tutorial Details

Syntax of the Gpasswd Command

The gpasswd command requires two arguments: one is the option, and the other is the group name.

$ gpasswd [OPTION] [GROUP]

• How to create and manage groups in Linux

Demo Group for Gpasswd Practise

To demonstrate the gpasswd command’s practical usage, we will create a temporary group (ex: “demogroup“) using the following command.

$ sudo addgroup demogroup

Output:

Verify the group is created by searching the “demogroup” name on the “/etc/group” file using the grep command.

$ grep demogroup /etc/group

Output:

• How to Find All Users in Linux

Adding a User to a Group

The following command will add the specified user (ex: “linuxtldr“) to the newly created group (ex: “demogroup“).

$ sudo gpasswd -a linuxtldr demogroup

Output:

Use the groups command with the username to verify the user is added to that group.

$ groups linuxtldr

Output:

You can add multiple users to the specified group by using a comma (“,“) as a separator.

Removing the User from the Group

The following command will remove the specified user (ex: “linuxtldr“) from the specified group (ex: “demogroup“).

$ sudo gpasswd -d linuxtldr demogroup

Output:

Verify that the users are removed from the specified group using the following command.

$ groups linuxtldr

Output:

To remove multiple users from the specified group, use a comma (“,“) as a separator.

Setting the Password for the Group

You can set a password for a group name (ex: “demogroup“) with the “gpasswd” command.

$ sudo gpasswd demogroup

Output:

Removing Password from Group

Use the “-r” or “--remove-password” flag to remove the password from the specified group.

$ sudo gpasswd -r demogroup

Output:

Promote the User as Group Adminstrator

The following command will assign the specified user as the group administrator.

$ sudo gpasswd -A linuxtldr demogroup

Output:

To demote the user from the administrator position, use the same command, replacing the old user with the new one.

Setting the List of Group Members

Use the “-M” or “--members” flag to add multiple users to the specified group using the following command.

$ sudo gpasswd -M linuxtldr,jr demogroup

Output:

Removing the Demo Group

After you are done with the practice, you can remove the “demogroup” group we created at the beginning of this article by using the following command.

$ sudo groupdel demogroup

Output:

That was the last example.

I hope you enjoyed the article.

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