PASSWD(5)                                               PASSWD(5)

NAME
       passwd - The password file

DESCRIPTION
       passwd  contains  various  pieces  of information for each
       user account.  Included is

            Login name

            Optional encrypted password

            Numerical user ID

            Numerical group ID

            User name or comment field

            User home directory

            User command interpreter

       The password field may not be filled if  shadow  passwords
       have  been  enabled.   If shadow passwords are being used,
       the encrypted password will be found in /etc/shadow.   The
       encryped  password  consists  of 13 characters from the 64
       character alphabet a thru z, A thru Z, 0 thru 9, . and  /.
       Refer to crypt(3) for details on how this string is inter-
       preted.

       An optional password age string may follow  the  encrypted
       password,  separated by a comma, from the same alphabet as
       the password itself.  The first character gives the number
       of  weeks  during which the password is valid.  The second
       character gives the number of weeks which must pass before
       the  user  is  permitted to change the password.  The last
       two characters give the week since Jan 1970 when the pass-
       word  was  last  changed.  When the number of weeks during
       which the password is valid have passed, the user will  be
       required to provide a new password.

       The  comment  field  is  used by various system utilities,
       such as finger(1).  Three additional values may be present
       in the comment field.  They are

            pri= - set initial value of nice

            umask= - set initial value of umask

            ulimit= - set initial value of ulimit

       These  fields  are  separated from each other and from any
       other comment field by a comma.

       The home directory field provides the name of the  initial

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PASSWD(5)                                               PASSWD(5)

       working directory.  Login uses this information to set the
       value of the HOME environmental variable.

       The command interpreter field provides  the  name  of  the
       user's  command  language  interpreter, or the name of the
       initial program to execute.  Login uses  this  information
       to  set the value of the SHELL environmental variable.  If
       this field is empty, it defaults to the value /bin/sh.

FILES
       /etc/passwd - user account information

SEE ALSO
       login(1),   passwd(1),   su(1),   sulogin(8),   shadow(5),
       pwconv(8), pwunconv(8)

AUTHOR
       Julianne Frances Haugh (jfh@tab.com)

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