The Right Way To Edit /etc/passwd and /etc/group files in Linux using vipw and vigr commands | Linux Today

The Right Way To Edit /etc/passwd and /etc/group files in Linux using vipw and vigr commands

Written By
S
Senthilkumar
Mar 31, 2020

The vipw and vigr commands are used to safely edit the files /etc/passwd and /etc/group in Linux systems. They will put appropriate locks when editing /etc/passwd and /etc/group files to prevent other users from making any changes in them and avoid file corruption. When you run those commands with -s flag, they will edit the shadow versions of those files, i.e. /etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow, respectively.

S

Senthilkumar

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.