- \n
- How to List All Users in Debian 12<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- How to View Current Login Users in Debian 12<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Conclusion<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>How to List All Users in Debian 12<\/strong><\/h1>\n
The are two ways to list users in Debian 12:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Through Terminal<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Through GUI<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>How to List Users in Debian 12 Through Terminal<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Below we have listed the various commands to list users in Debian 12:<\/p>\n
- \n
- List Users Using cat Command<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- List Users Using awk Command<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- List Users Using getnet Command<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- List Users Using compgen Command<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
How to List Users Using cat Command in Debian 12<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The cat command<\/strong> in Debian is widely used to display the content of files quickly. You can preview the information of users in Debian by viewing these two files:<\/p>\n
- \n
- \/etc\/passwd File<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- \/etc\/shadow File<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
1: Use cat Command to View List of Users in the \u2018\/etc\/passwd\u2019 File in Debian 12<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The information of each local user account is stored in the \/etc\/passwd<\/strong> file in Debian 12. You can display this information inside this file using the cat <\/strong>command:<\/p>\n
cat<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>passwd<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-1.png\")
<\/p>\nThe above command will display the information of each user; the information consists of multiple fields separated by the colon as shown below:<\/p>\n
User Name : Password : <<\/span>strong><\/span>UID <\/<\/span>strong><\/span>(<\/span>User Identification)<\/span> <<\/span>strong><\/span>: GID <\/<\/span>strong><\/span>(<\/span>User Group ID)<\/span> <<\/span>strong><\/span>: Full<\/<\/span>strong><\/span> <<\/span>strong><\/span>Name :<\/<\/span>strong><\/span> <<\/span>strong><\/span>Home Directory : Shell Used<\/div><\/div>\nHere:<\/strong><\/p>\n
1: The User Name <\/strong>is the login name of the user.<\/p>\n
2: The next field is the encrypted password and x <\/strong>represents that the password is stored in the \/etc\/shadow<\/strong> file.<\/p>\n
3: Next to the password is UID,<\/strong> GID<\/strong>, the Full Name<\/strong> of the user, and its home directory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
4: The last field represents the login shell and that is the default \/bin\/bash.<\/strong><\/p>\n
You can also use less<\/strong> or more <\/strong>commands to customize the output. These commands are used to view the content of large files interactively as you can easily browse through them.<\/p>\n
The less command <\/strong>shows the file in separate sections or pages and provides the navigation.<\/p>\n
less<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>passwd<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-2.png\")
<\/p>\nThe more command<\/strong> will display one page of the file at a time:<\/p>\n
more<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>passwd<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-3.png\")
<\/p>\nYou can use various flags with the cat command to customize the output, such as:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Get Only Username in Debian 12<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Get the Total Number of Users in Debian 12<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
1: Get Only Usernames in Debian 12 <\/strong><\/p>\n
Execute the following cat command to view only the list of usernames in Debian 12:<\/p>\n
cat<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>passwd<\/span> |<\/span> cut<\/span> -d: -f1<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-4.png\")
<\/p>\nMoreover, you can also use the cut command <\/strong>to display the only names of the users:<\/p>\n
cut<\/span> -d: -f1<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>passwd<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-5.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
2: Get the Total Number of Users in Debian 12<\/strong><\/p>\n
To get only the total number of users on Debian, run the following cat command:<\/p>\n
cat<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>passwd<\/span> |<\/span> wc<\/span> -l<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-6.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
2: Use cat Command to View List of Users in \/etc\/shadow File in Debian 12<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The \/etc\/shadow<\/strong> file stores the password hashes and other password related information of the user accounts. You can use the cat command followed by the shadow file location to retrieve the list of users in Debian 12:<\/p>\n
sudo<\/span> cat<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>shadow<\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-7.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
2: How to List Users Using awk Command in Debian 12<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The other command used to display only the name of the users is the awk command<\/strong>. The awk<\/strong> is the command line utility that interprets the information from the \/etc\/passwd <\/strong>file similar to the cat command<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
When you execute this command, the list of all the users will appear on your screen:<\/p>\n
awk<\/span> -F<\/span>':'<\/span> '{ print $1}'<\/span> \/<\/span>etc\/<\/span>passwd<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-8.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
3: How to List Users Using getnet Command in Debian 12<\/strong><\/h2>\n
In Linux, getnet<\/strong> is a common way to get the user information. It includes the passwd and group databases that store the information and displays the database configured in \/etc\/nsswitch.conf <\/strong>file. You can use the getnet command<\/strong> in Debian 12 to:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Get the Details of All Users<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Display Only Name of Users<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Check the Existence of Specific User<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Display Regular Users<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
1: Get the Details of All Users <\/strong><\/h3>\n
To get the detailed information of all users using getnet<\/strong> in Debian 12, execute the following command:<\/p>\n
getent<\/span> passwd<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-9.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
2: Display Only Name of Users <\/strong><\/h3>\n
You can limit the output by executing the below-given command to get only the names of users on Debian:<\/p>\n
getent<\/span> passwd<\/span> |<\/span> awk<\/span> -F: '{ print $1}'<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-10.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
3: Check the Existence of Specific User<\/strong><\/h3>\n
You can use the getnet <\/strong>command to view the information of specific users in Debian, it can be done using:<\/p>\n
getent<\/span> passwd<\/span> <<\/span>name><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-11.png\")
<\/p>\nHere, in place of <name><\/strong> specify your username.<\/p>\n
You can also use the grep command<\/strong> with getnet<\/strong> to display the user information in Debian:<\/p>\n
getent<\/span> passwd<\/span> |<\/span> grep<\/span> <<\/span>name><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n![](\"http:\/\/linuxways.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/word-image-24009-12.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
4: Display Regular Users<\/strong><\/h3>\n
In Linux, there are two types of users: system users and regular users. The system user <\/strong>is created while installing the OS and the regular user<\/strong> is created by the user who has sudo privileges. The regular user has a home directory. You can use UIDs <\/strong>to search users in the specific range using the following syntax:<\/p>\n
getent<\/span> passwd<\/span> {<\/span>[<\/span>first-UID]<\/span>..[<\/span>last-UID]<\/span>}<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n - Display Only Name of Users<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Get the Total Number of Users in Debian 12<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- \/etc\/shadow File<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- List Users Using awk Command<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- Through GUI<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- How to View Current Login Users in Debian 12<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n