---
name: "group"
section: "5"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/group/5"
---

# group(5)

format of the group permissions file

## NAME

**group** – format of the group permissions file

## DESCRIPTION

The file */etc/group* consists of newline separated ASCII records, one per group, containing four colon (‘:’) separated fields. These fields are as follows:

- group

  Name of the group.

- passwd

  Group's encrypted password.

- gid

  The group's decimal ID.

- member

  Group members.

The *group* field is the group name used for granting file access to users who are members of the group. The *gid* field is the number associated with the group name. They should both be unique across the system (and often across a group of systems) since they control file access. The *passwd* field is an optional encrypted password. This field is rarely used and an asterisk is normally placed in it rather than leaving it blank. The *member* field contains the names of users granted the privileges of *group*. The member names are separated by commas without spaces or newlines. A user is automatically in a group if that group was specified in their [passwd(5)](/passwd/5.md) entry and does not need to be added to that group in the **group** file.

## YP SUPPORT

If YP is active, the **group** file also supports YP exclusions and inclusions.

Lines beginning with a ‘-’ (minus sign) are entries marked as being excluded from any following inclusions, which are marked with a \`+' (plus sign).

Lines of the format

```
+name:*::
```

cause the specified group to be included from the *group.byname* YP map. If no group name is specified, or the ‘+’ (plus sign) appears alone on a line, all groups are included from the YP map.

YP references may appear anywhere in the file, but the single ‘+’ form should be on the last line, for historical reasons. Only the first group with a specific name encountered, whether in the **group** file itself, or included via YP, will be used.

Proper YP group support requires consistent *group.byname*, *group.bygid* and *netid.byname* YP maps. See [getgrent(3)](/getgrent/3.md) and [getgrouplist(3)](/getgrouplist/3.md) for details.

When YP is enabled but temporarily unavailable, login becomes impossible for all users except those having an entry in the [netid(5)](/netid/5.md) file.

## FILES

- */etc/group*

  ## SEE ALSO

[passwd(1)](/passwd/1.md), [setgroups(2)](/setgroups/2.md), [crypt(3)](/crypt/3.md), [initgroups(3)](/initgroups/3.md), [netid(5)](/netid/5.md), [passwd(5)](/passwd/5.md), [yp(8)](/yp/8.md)

## HISTORY

The **group** file format first appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

The YP file format first appeared in SunOS.

## BUGS

The [passwd(1)](/passwd/1.md) command does not change the **group** passwords.

Lines in */etc/group* are limited to 1024 characters. YP groups are not affected by this limit.

Groups are limited to a maximum of 200 members per group.