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 their password.
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17 The options which apply to the chage command are:
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19 -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.
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26 -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.
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33 For example the following can be used to set an account to expire
34 in 180 days:
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36 chage -E $(date -d +180days +%Y-%m-%d)
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39 Passing the number -1 as the EXPIRE_DATE will remove an account
40 expiration date.
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42 -h, --help
43 Display help message and exit.
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45 -i, --iso8601
46 When printing dates, use YYYY-MM-DD format.
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48 -I, --inactive INACTIVE
49 Set the number of days of inactivity after a password has expired
50 before the account is locked. The INACTIVE option is the number of
51 days of inactivity. A user whose account is locked must contact the
52 system administrator before being able to use the system again.
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54 Passing the number -1 as the INACTIVE will remove an account's
55 inactivity.
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57 -l, --list
58 Show account aging information.
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60 -m, --mindays MIN_DAYS
61 Set the minimum number of days between password changes to
62 MIN_DAYS. A value of zero for this field indicates that the user
63 may change their password at any time.
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65 -M, --maxdays MAX_DAYS
66 Set the maximum number of days during which a password is valid.
67 When MAX_DAYS plus LAST_DAY is less than the current day, the user
68 will be required to change their password before being able to use
69 their account. This occurrence can be planned for in advance by use
70 of the -W option, which provides the user with advance warning.
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72 Passing the number -1 as MAX_DAYS will remove checking a password's
73 validity.
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75 -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
76 Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration
77 files from the CHROOT_DIR directory.
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79 -W, --warndays WARN_DAYS
80 Set the number of days of warning before a password change is
81 required. The WARN_DAYS option is the number of days prior to the
82 password expiring that a user will be warned their password is
83 about to expire.
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85 If none of the options are selected, chage operates in an interactive
86 fashion, prompting the user with the current values for all of the
87 fields. Enter the new value to change the field, or leave the line
88 blank to use the current value. The current value is displayed between
89 a pair of [ ] marks.
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92 The chage program requires a shadow password file to be available.
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94 The chage program will report only the information from the shadow
95 password file. This implies that configuration from other sources (e.g.
96 LDAP or empty password hash field from the passwd file) that affect the
97 user's login will not be shown in the chage output.
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99 The chage program will also not report any inconsistency between the
100 shadow and passwd files (e.g. missing x in the passwd file). The pwck
101 can be used to check for this kind of inconsistencies.
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103 The chage command is restricted to the root user, except for the -l
104 option, which may be used by an unprivileged user to determine when
105 their password or account is due to expire.
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108 The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the
109 behavior of this tool:
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112 /etc/passwd
113 User account information.
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115 /etc/shadow
116 Secure user account information.
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119 The chage command exits with the following values:
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121 0
122 success
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124 1
125 permission denied
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127 2
128 invalid command syntax
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130 15
131 can't find the shadow password file
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134 passwd(5), shadow(5).
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138shadow-utils 4.8.1 03/29/2021 CHAGE(1)