1CHAGE(1) User Commands CHAGE(1)
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6 chage - change user password expiry information
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9 chage [options] LOGIN
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12 The chage command changes the number of days between password changes
13 and the date of the last password change. This information is used by
14 the system to determine when a user must change his/her password.
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17 The options which apply to the chage command are:
18 -d, --lastday LAST_DAY
20 Set the number of days since January 1st, 1970 when the password
21 was last changed. The date may also be expressed in the format
22 YYYY-MM-DD (or the format more commonly used in your area). If the
23 LAST_DAY is set to 0 the user is forced to change his password on
24 the next log on.
25 -E, --expiredate EXPIRE_DATE
27 Set the date or number of days since January 1, 1970 on which the
28 user's account will no longer be accessible. The date may also be
29 expressed in the format YYYY-MM-DD (or the format more commonly
30 used in your area). A user whose account is locked must contact the
31 system administrator before being able to use the system again.
32 Passing the number -1 as the EXPIRE_DATE will remove an account
34 expiration date.
35 For example the following command can be used to set an account to
37 expire in 180 days:
38 chage -E $(date -d +180days +%Y-%m-%d)
40 -h, --help
43 Display help message and exit.
44 -I, --inactive INACTIVE
46 Set the number of days of inactivity after a password has expired
47 before the account is locked. The INACTIVE option is the number of
48 days of inactivity. A user whose account is locked must contact the
49 system administrator before being able to use the system again.
50 Passing the number -1 as the INACTIVE will remove an account's
52 inactivity.
53 -l, --list
55 Show account aging information.
56 -m, --mindays MIN_DAYS
58 Set the minimum number of days between password changes to
59 MIN_DAYS. A value of zero for this field indicates that the user
60 may change his/her password at any time.
61 -M, --maxdays MAX_DAYS
63 Set the maximum number of days during which a password is valid.
64 When MAX_DAYS plus LAST_DAY is less than the current day, the user
65 will be required to change his/her password before being able to
66 use his/her account. This occurrence can be planned for in advance
67 by use of the -W option, which provides the user with advance
68 warning.
69 Passing the number -1 as MAX_DAYS will remove checking a password's
71 validity.
72 -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
74 Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
75 files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
76 -W, --warndays WARN_DAYS
78 Set the number of days of warning before a password change is
79 required. The WARN_DAYS option is the number of days prior to the
80 password expiring that a user will be warned his/her password is
81 about to expire.
82 If none of the options are selected, chage operates in an interactive
84 fashion, prompting the user with the current values for all of the
85 fields. Enter the new value to change the field, or leave the line
86 blank to use the current value. The current value is displayed between
87 a pair of [ ] marks.
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90 The chage program requires a shadow password file to be available.
91 The chage command is restricted to the root user, except for the -l
93 option, which may be used by an unprivileged user to determine when
94 his/her password or account is due to expire.
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97 The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
98 behavior of this tool:
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101 /etc/passwd
102 User account information.
103 /etc/shadow
105 Secure user account information.
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108 The chage command exits with the following values:
109 0
111 success
112 1
114 permission denied
115 2
117 invalid command syntax
118 15
120 can't find the shadow password file
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123 passwd(5), shadow(5).
124shadow-utils 4.1.5.1 03/14/2019 CHAGE(1)