[ad_1]
In Linux, groups are used to organize and administer user accounts. The primary purpose of groups is to define a set of privileges such as reading, writing, or executing permission
for a given resource that can be shared among the users within the group.
A new group can be created using the groupadd
command. If a group is no longer needed and can be removed from the system.
This article explains how to remove a group in Linux, using the groupdel command.
groupdel Command Syntax #
The general syntax for the groupdel command is as follows:
groupdel [OPTIONS] GROUPNAME
GROUPNAME is the name of the group you want to remove.
Only the root or a user with sudo
privileges can remove groups.
It is not possible to remove the primary group of an existing user without removing the user first.
The groupdel command accepts only a few options that are rarely used. See the groupdel man page for more information about the command’s options.
Deleting a Group in Linux #
To delete(remove) a given group from the system, invoke the groupdel command followed by the group name.
For example, to remove a group named mygroup you would run:
groupdel mygroupThe command above removes the group entry from the /etc/group and /etc/gshadow files.
On success, the groupdel command does not print any output.
You can verify that the group is removed, by listing all groups
using the following command:
getent group | grep mygroupIf the group you want to remove doesn’t exist, the system will print an error message like the following:
groupdel: group 'mygroup' does not exist
Conclusion #
In Linux, you can remove groups using the groupdel command.
The same instructions apply for any Linux distribution, including Ubuntu, CentOS, RHEL, Debian, Fedora, and Arch Linux.
Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.
[ad_2]
Source link
