Editing Getent

{{lowercase|getent}}
{{short description|Unix command}}
'''getent''' is a [[Unix]] command that helps a user get entries in a number of important [[text files]] called databases. This includes the passwd and group databases which store user information – hence {{code|getent}} is a common way to look up user details on Unix. Since {{code|getent}} uses the same name service as the system, {{code|getent}} will show all information, including that gained from network information sources such as [[Lightweight Directory Access Protocol|LDAP]].

The databases it searches in are: ahosts, ahostsv4, ahostsv6, aliases, ethers (Ethernet addresses), group, gshadow, hosts, netgroup, networks, [[passwd (file)|passwd]], protocols, rpc, services, and shadow.

The general syntax is:
<syntaxhighlight lang="shell">
getent database [key ...]
</syntaxhighlight>

[[Thorsten Kukuk]] wrote the ''getent'' utility for the [[GNU C Library]].

== Examples ==

Fetch list of user accounts on a Unix system (stored in a database called 'passwd'). This will show all user accounts, regardless of the type of [[name service]] used. For example, if both local and LDAP [[name service]] are used for user accounts, the results will include all local and LDAP users:
<syntaxhighlight lang="unixconfig" highlight="1">
$ getent passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/bin/sh
bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/bin/sh
sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/bin/sh
sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync
games:x:5:60:games:/usr/games:/bin/sh
man:x:6:12:man:/var/cache/man:/bin/sh
lp:x:7:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/bin/sh
mail:x:8:8:mail:/var/mail:/bin/sh
</syntaxhighlight>
Fetch details for a particular user called joe:
<syntaxhighlight lang="unixconfig" highlight="1">
$ getent passwd joe
joe:x:1000:1000:Joe,,,:/home/joe:/bin/bash
</syntaxhighlight>
Fetch list of group accounts on a Unix system (stored in a database called 'group'):
<syntaxhighlight lang="unixconfig" highlight="1">
$ getent group
root:x:0:
daemon:x:1:
bin:x:2:
sys:x:3:
adm:x:4:stefan
tty:x:5:
disk:x:6:
lp:x:7:
mail:x:8:
</syntaxhighlight>

==External links==
* [http://linux.die.net/man/1/getent The getent manpage]

[[Category:Unix user management and support-related utilities]]