---
name: "lnewusers"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "libuser"
version: "1:0.64+git20241106~dfsg-3"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/lnewusers"
---

# lnewusers(1)

Create new user accounts

## NAME

lnewusers - Create new user accounts

## SYNOPSIS

lnewusers \[*OPTION*\]...

## DESCRIPTION

Creates new user accounts using data read from standard input.

The input data consists of lines, each line has 7 colon-separated fields:

- User name

  - Plaintext password

  - User ID

  **lnewusers** refuses to create users with user ID 0 (the **root** user ID).

- Group

  If this field is a valid group ID, it is interpreted as a group ID, otherwise as a group name. If the field is empty, a group name equal to user name is used.

  If the specified group does not exist, it is automatically created. If the group is specified with a group ID, the created group has group name equal to the user name.

- GECOS

  The GECOS field is traditionally used to store user's real name and other information.

- Home directory

  If this field is empty, a default specified by **libuser** configuration, or **/home/***username* if **libuser** configuration does not specify a default, is used.

- Login shell

  If this field is empty, a default specified by **libuser** configuration is used.

Errors in user specifications are reported and processing continues on the next line.

## OPTIONS

- **-f**, **--file**=*file*

  Read account data from *file* instead of standard input.

- **-i**, **--interactive**

  Ask all questions when connecting to the user database, even if default answers are set up in **libuser** configuration.

- **-M**, **--nocreatehome**

  Don't create home directories.

- **-n**, **--nocreatemail**

  Don't create mail spool files.

## EXIT STATUS

The exit status is 0 on success, nonzero on fatal error. Errors in user specifications are not reflected in the exit status.