PASSWD(5)                File Formats and Conversions                PASSWD(5)
[user@debian1:~]$ PAGER=cat man 5 passwd
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PASSWD(5)                File Formats and Conversions                PASSWD(5)
NAME
       passwd - the password file
DESCRIPTION
 ESCOA
 ESCOA
 ESCOA
 ESCOA
       o  login name
       o  optional encrypted password
NAME
       passwd - the password file
       o  numerical user ID
DESCRIPTION
       o  numerical group ID
       /etc/passwd contains one line for each user account, with seven fields
       delimited by colons (":"). These fields are:
       o  user name or comment field
       o  login name
       o  user home directory
       o  optional encrypted password
       o  optional user command interpreter
       o  numerical user ID
       The encrypted password field may be blank, in which case no password is
       required to authenticate as the specified login name. However, some
       o  numerical group ID
       applications which read the /etc/passwd file may decide not to permit
       any access at all if the password field is blank. If the password field
       o  user name or comment field
       is a lower-case "x", then the encrypted password is actually stored in
       the shadow(5) file instead; there must be a corresponding line in the
       o  user home directory
       /etc/shadow file, or else the user account is invalid. If the password
       field is any other string, then it will be treated as an encrypted
       password, as specified by crypt(3).
       The comment field is used by various system utilities, such as
       finger(1).
       The home directory field provides the name of the initial working
       directory. The login program uses this information to set the value of
       the $HOME environmental variable.
       The command interpreter field provides the name of the user's command
       language interpreter, or the name of the initial program to execute.
       The login program uses this information to set the value of the $SHELL
       environmental variable. If this field is empty, it defaults to the
       value /bin/sh.
FILES
       /etc/passwd
          User account information.
       /etc/shadow
          optional encrypted password file
SEE ALSO
       getent(1), login(1), passwd(1), su(1), crypt(3), getpwnam(3),
       shadow(5), pwconv(8), pwunconv(8), sulogin(8).
File Formats and Conversions      02/25/2007                         PASSWD(5)
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