Encyclopedia

Getent

Unix command

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Source updated May 11, 2026

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 getent is a common way to look up user details on Unix. Since getent uses the same name service as the system, getent will show all information, including that gained from network information sources such as LDAP.

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

The general syntax is:

getent database [key ...]

Thorsten Kukuk wrote the getent utility for the GNU C Library.

01Examples

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:

$ 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

Fetch details for a particular user called joe:

$ getent passwd joe joe:x:1000:1000:Joe,,,:/home/joe:/bin/bash

Fetch list of group accounts on a Unix system (stored in a database called 'group'):

$ 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:

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Getent”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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