Access to the Group Database in Python

To access the UNIX group database, we should use the grp module. The shadow password database entries are like tuple like object.

To use the grp module, we should import it using −

import grp

The attributes of the grp database are −

In the group object, the gid is an integer. The group name and the password are strings. The Member list is a list of strings.

Some methods of this module are −

Method grp.getgrgid(gid)

This method will return group database entry from the given group id. When there is no group corresponds to gid, it will raise KeyError.

Method grp.getgrnam(name)

This method will return group database entry from the given group name. When there is no group corresponds to gid, it will raise KeyError.

Method grp.getgrall()

This method will return all group database entry.

Example Code

 Live Demo

import grp
print("ID: 4: " + str(grp.getgrgid(4)) + '\n') #Password detail using Group ID
   print("cdrom group: " + str(grp.getgrnam('cdrom')) + '\n') #Password detail using Group name
      for entry in grp.getgrall():
   print("Group Name: " + entry[0] + "\t\tMembers: " + str(entry.gr_mem))

Output

$ sudo python3 example.py
ID: 4: grp.struct_group(gr_name='adm', gr_passwd='x', gr_gid=4, gr_mem=['syslog', 'unix_user'])

cdrom group: grp.struct_group(gr_name='cdrom', gr_passwd='x', gr_gid=24, gr_mem=['unix_user'])

Group Name: root       Members: []
Group Name: daemon      Members: []
Group Name: bin       Members: []
Group Name: sys       Members: []
Group Name: adm       Members: ['syslog', 'unix_user']
Group Name: tty       Members: []
Group Name: disk       Members: []
Group Name: lp       Members: []
Group Name: mail       Members: []
Group Name: news       Members: []
Group Name: uucp       Members: []
Group Name: man       Members: []
Group Name: proxy       Members: []
Group Name: kmem       Members: []
Group Name: dialout     Members: []
Group Name: fax       Members: []
Group Name: voice       Members: []
Group Name: cdrom       Members: ['unix_user']
Group Name: floppy      Members: []
Group Name: tape       Members: []
Group Name: sudo       Members: ['unix_user']
Group Name: audio       Members: ['pulse']
Group Name: dip       Members: ['unix_user']
Group Name: www-data    Members: []
Group Name: backup      Members: []
………..
………..
………..

George John

Updated on: 25-Jun-2020

150 Views

Kickstart Your Career

Get certified by completing the course

Get Started