vipw, vigr - edit the password, group, shadow-password or shadow-group file
Contents
Description
The vipw and vigr commands edit the files /etc/passwd and /etc/group, respectively. With the -s flag,
they will edit the shadow versions of those files, /etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow, respectively. The
programs will set the appropriate locks to prevent file corruption. When looking for an editor, the
programs will first try the environment variable $VISUAL, then the environment variable $EDITOR, and
finally the default editor, vi(1).
Environment
VISUAL
Editor to be used.
EDITOR
Editor to be used if VISUAL is not set.
Files
/etc/group Group account information. /etc/gshadow Secure group account information. /etc/passwd User account information. /etc/shadow Secure user account information.
Name
vipw, vigr - edit the password, group, shadow-password or shadow-group file
Options
The options which apply to the vipw and vigr commands are:
-g, --group
Edit group database.
-h, --help
Display help message and exit.
-p, --passwd
Edit passwd database.
-q, --quiet
Quiet mode.
-R, --rootCHROOT_DIR
Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration files from the CHROOT_DIR
directory. Only absolute paths are supported.
-s, --shadow
Edit shadow or gshadow database.
See Also
vi(1), group(5), gshadow(5) , passwd(5), , shadow(5). shadow-utils 4.17.4 05/07/2025 VIPW(8)
Synopsis
vipw [options]
vigr [options]
