pwd module in Python provides access to the
Unix user account and password database. Each entry stored in
Unix user account and password database is reported as a tuple-like object whose attributes are similar as the members of
passwd structure defined in
<pwd.h> header file.
Following are the attributes of the tuple-like object which represents the entries stored in Unix user account and password database:
| Index |
Attributes |
Meaning |
| 0 |
pw_name |
Login name |
| 1 |
pw_passwd |
Optional encrypted password |
| 2 |
pw_uid |
Numerical user ID |
| 3 |
pwd_gid |
Numerical group ID |
| 4 |
pw_gecos |
User name or comment field |
| 5 |
pw_dir |
User home directory |
| 6 |
pw_shell |
User command interpreter |
Note: pwd module is a UNIX specific service. So, all method of this module is available on UNIX versions only.
pwd module defines following three methods:
pwd.getpwuid() methodpwd.getpwnam() methodpwd.getpwall() method
pwd.getpwuid() method -
pwd.getpwnam() method in Python is used to get the password database entry for the specified user id.
Syntax: pwd.getpwuid(uid)
Parameter:
uid: A numeric value representing the user id for which password database entry is required.
Return type: This method returns a tuple-like object of class 'pwd.struct_passwd' which represents the password database entry for the specified user id.
Code: Use of pwd.getpwuid() method
Python3
# Python program to explain pwd.getpwuid() method
# importing pwd module
import pwd
# User id
uid = 1000
# Get the password
# database entry for the
# specified user id
# using pwd.getpwuid() method
entry = pwd.getpwuid(uid)
# Print the retrieved entry
print("Password database entry for user id : % d:" % uid)
print(entry)
# User id
uid = 0
# Get the password
# database entry for the
# specified user id
# using pwd.getpwuid() method
entry = pwd.getpwuid(uid)
# Print the retrieved entry
print("Password database entry for user id : % d:" % uid)
print(entry)
Output:
Password database entry for user id : 1000
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='ihritik', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=1000, pw_gid=1000,
pw_gecos='Hritik,,, ', pw_dir='/home/ihritik', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
Password database entry for user id : 0
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='root', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=0, pw_gid=0, pw_gecos='root',
pw_dir='/root', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
pwd.getpwnam() method -
pwd.getpwnam() method in Python is used to get the password database entry for the specified user name
Syntax: pwd.getpwnam(name)
Parameter:
name: A string value representing the user name for which password database entry is required.
Return type: This method returns a tuple-like object of class 'pwd.struct_passwd' which represents the password database entry for the specified name.
Code: Use of pwd.getpwnam() method
Python3
# Python program to explain pwd.getpwnam() method
# importing pwd module
import pwd
# User name
name = "ihritik"
# Get the password
# database entry for the
# specified username
# using pwd.getpwnam() method
entry = pwd.getpwnam(name)
# Print the retrieved entry
print("Password database entry for '% s':" % name)
print(entry)
# User name
name = "root"
# Get the password
# database entry for the
# specified username
# using pwd.getpwnam() method
entry = pwd.getpwnam(name)
# Print the retrieved entry
print("\nPassword database entry for '% s':" % name)
print(entry)
Output:
Password database entry for 'ihritik':
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='ihritik', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=1000, pw_gid=1000,
pw_gecos='Hritik,,, ', pw_dir='/home/ihritik', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
Password database entry for 'root':
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='root', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=0, pw_gid=0, pw_gecos='root',
pw_dir='/root', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
pwd.getpwall() method -
pwd.getpwall() method in Python is used to get the list of all available entries stored in password database.
Syntax: pwd.getpwall()
Parameter: No parameter is required.
Return type: This method returns a list of tuple-like object of class 'pwd.struct_passwd' whose elements represent all available entries stored in password database.
Code: Use of pwd.getpwall() method
Python3
# Python program to explain pwd.getpwall() method
# importing pwd module
import pwd
# Get the list
# of all available password
# database entries using
# pwd.getpwall() method
entries = pwd.getpwall()
# Print the list
print("Password database entries:")
for row in entries:
print(row)
Output:
Password database entries:
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='root', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=0, pw_gid=0, pw_gecos='root', pw_dir='/root', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='daemon', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=1, pw_gid=1, pw_gecos='daemon', pw_dir='/usr/sbin', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='bin', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=2, pw_gid=2, pw_gecos='bin', pw_dir='/bin', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='sys', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=3, pw_gid=3, pw_gecos='sys', pw_dir='/dev', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='sync', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=4, pw_gid=65534, pw_gecos='sync', pw_dir='/bin', pw_shell='/bin/sync')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='games', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=5, pw_gid=60, pw_gecos='games', pw_dir='/usr/games', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='man', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=6, pw_gid=12, pw_gecos='man', pw_dir='/var/cache/man', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='lp', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=7, pw_gid=7, pw_gecos='lp', pw_dir='/var/spool/lpd', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='mail', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=8, pw_gid=8, pw_gecos='mail', pw_dir='/var/mail', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='news', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=9, pw_gid=9, pw_gecos='news', pw_dir='/var/spool/news', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='uucp', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=10, pw_gid=10, pw_gecos='uucp', pw_dir='/var/spool/uucp', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='proxy', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=13, pw_gid=13, pw_gecos='proxy', pw_dir='/bin', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='www-data', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=33, pw_gid=33, pw_gecos='www-data', pw_dir='/var/www', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='backup', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=34, pw_gid=34, pw_gecos='backup', pw_dir='/var/backups', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='list', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=38, pw_gid=38, pw_gecos='Mailing List Manager', pw_dir='/var/list', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='irc', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=39, pw_gid=39, pw_gecos='ircd', pw_dir='/var/run/ircd', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='gnats', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=41, pw_gid=41, pw_gecos='Gnats Bug-Reporting System (admin)', pw_dir='/var/lib/gnats', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='nobody', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=65534, pw_gid=65534, pw_gecos='nobody', pw_dir='/nonexistent', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='systemd-timesync', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=100, pw_gid=102, pw_gecos='systemd Time Synchronization,,, ', pw_dir='/run/systemd', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='systemd-network', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=101, pw_gid=103, pw_gecos='systemd Network Management,,, ', pw_dir='/run/systemd/netif', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='systemd-resolve', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=102, pw_gid=104, pw_gecos='systemd Resolver,,, ', pw_dir='/run/systemd/resolve', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='systemd-bus-proxy', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=103, pw_gid=105, pw_gecos='systemd Bus Proxy,,, ', pw_dir='/run/systemd', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='syslog', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=104, pw_gid=108, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/home/syslog', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='messagebus', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=105, pw_gid=109, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/var/run/dbus', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='_apt', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=106, pw_gid=65534, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/nonexistent', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='uuidd', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=107, pw_gid=113, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/run/uuidd', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='rtkit', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=108, pw_gid=114, pw_gecos='RealtimeKit,,, ', pw_dir='/proc', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='avahi-autoipd', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=109, pw_gid=115, pw_gecos='Avahi autoip daemon,,, ', pw_dir='/var/lib/avahi-autoipd', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='usbmux', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=110, pw_gid=46, pw_gecos='usbmux daemon,,, ', pw_dir='/var/lib/usbmux', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='dnsmasq', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=111, pw_gid=65534, pw_gecos='dnsmasq,,, ', pw_dir='/var/lib/misc', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='whoopsie', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=112, pw_gid=119, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/nonexistent', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='kernoops', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=113, pw_gid=65534, pw_gecos='Kernel Oops Tracking Daemon,,, ', pw_dir='/', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='speech-dispatcher', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=114, pw_gid=29, pw_gecos='Speech Dispatcher,,, ', pw_dir='/var/run/speech-dispatcher', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='avahi', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=115, pw_gid=120, pw_gecos='Avahi mDNS daemon,,, ', pw_dir='/var/run/avahi-daemon', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='saned', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=116, pw_gid=122, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/var/lib/saned', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='pulse', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=117, pw_gid=123, pw_gecos='PulseAudio daemon,,, ', pw_dir='/var/run/pulse', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='colord', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=118, pw_gid=125, pw_gecos='colord colour management daemon,,, ', pw_dir='/var/lib/colord', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='hplip', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=119, pw_gid=7, pw_gecos='HPLIP system user,,, ', pw_dir='/var/run/hplip', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='geoclue', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=120, pw_gid=126, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/var/lib/geoclue', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='gdm', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=121, pw_gid=127, pw_gecos='Gnome Display Manager', pw_dir='/var/lib/gdm3', pw_shell='/bin/false')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='ihritik', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=1000, pw_gid=1000, pw_gecos='Hritik,,, ', pw_dir='/home/ihritik', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='sshd', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=122, pw_gid=65534, pw_gecos='', pw_dir='/run/sshd', pw_shell='/usr/sbin/nologin')
pwd.struct_passwd(pw_name='master', pw_passwd='x', pw_uid=1001, pw_gid=1002, pw_gecos=',,, ', pw_dir='/home/master', pw_shell='/bin/bash')
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