HP-UX Reference (11i v1 05/09) - 1M System Administration Commands A-M (vol 3)

g
groupdel(1M) groupdel(1M)
NAME
groupdel - delete a group from the system
SYNOPSIS
groupdel group
DESCRIPTION
The groupdel command deletes a group from the system by removing the appropriate entry from the
/etc/group file.
The groupdel command must be used with the group argument. group is the name of the group to be
deleted, consisting of a string of printable characters.
NETWORKING FEATURES
This command is aware of
NIS user entries. Only local groups may be deleted with
groupdel. Attempts
to delete an
NIS group will result in an error.
NIS groups must be administered from the NIS server. If
groupdel is used on a system where
NIS is installed, it may fail with the error
group x does not exist
(return value 6), if the group specified is an NIS group (see group(4)).
RETURN VALUE
groupdel exits with one of the following values:
0 No error.
2 Invalid command syntax.
3 Invalid argument supplied to an option.
6 group does not exist.
10 Cannot modify the /etc/group file.
11 /etc/passwd file or
/etc/ptmp file busy. Another command may be modifying the
/etc/passwd file.
12 Unable to open /etc/ptmp or /etc/passwd file is non-existent.
EXAMPLES
Delete the group project1 from the /etc/group file if it exists:
groupdel project1
WARNINGS
As many users may try to write the /etc/passwd file simultaneously, a passwd locking mechanism was
deviced. If this locking fails after subsequent retrying, groupdel terminates.
FILES
/etc/group
/etc/ptmp
SEE ALSO
users(1), groupadd(1M), groupmod(1M), logins(1M), useradd(1M), userdel(1M), usermod(1M), group(4).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
groupdel: SVID3
Section 1M−−310 Hewlett-Packard Company − 1 − HP-UX 11i Version 1: September 2005