1USERDEL(8)                System Management Commands                USERDEL(8)
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NAME

6       userdel - delete a user account and related files
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SYNOPSIS

9       userdel [options] LOGIN
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DESCRIPTION

12       The userdel command modifies the system account files, deleting all
13       entries that refer to login_name. The named user must exist.
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OPTIONS

16       The options which apply to the userdel command are:
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18       -f, --force
19          This option forces the removal of the user, even if she is still
20          logged in. It also forces userdel to remove the user's home
21          directory or her mail spool, even if another user uses the same home
22          directory or if the mail spool is not owned by the specified user.
23          If USERGROUPS_ENAB is defined to yes in /etc/login.defs and if a
24          group exists with the same name as the deleted user, then this group
25          will be removed, even if it is still the primary group of another
26          user.
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29          Note: This option is dangerous and may leave your system in an
30          inconsistent state.
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32       -h, --help
33          Display help message and exit.
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35       -r, --remove
36          Files in the user's home directory will be removed along with the
37          home directory itself and the user's mail spool. Files located in
38          other file systems will have to be searched for and deleted
39          manually.
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41          The mail spool is defined by the MAIL_DIR variable in the login.defs
42          file.
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FILES

45       /etc/group
46          Group account information.
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48       /etc/login.defs
49          Shadow password suite configuration.
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51       /etc/passwd
52          User account information.
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54       /etc/shadow
55          Secure user account information.
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EXIT VALUES

58       The userdel command exits with the following values:
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60       0  success
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62       1  can't update password file
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64       2  invalid command syntax
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66       6  specified user doesn't exist
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68       8  user currently logged in
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70       10 can't update group file
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72       12 can't remove home directory
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CAVEATS

75       userdel will not allow you to remove an account if the user is
76       currently logged in. You must kill any running processes which belong
77       to an account that you are deleting.
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79       You may not remove any NIS attributes on a NIS client. This must be
80       performed on the NIS server.
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82       If USERGROUPS_ENAB is defined to yes in /etc/login.defs, userdel will
83       delete the group with the same name as the user. To avoid
84       inconsistencies in the passwd and group databases, userdel will check
85       that this group is not used as a primary group for another user, and
86       will just warn without deleting the user otherwise. The -f option can
87       force the deletion of this group.
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SEE ALSO

90       chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), login.defs(5), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8),
91       groupdel(8), groupmod(8), useradd(8), usermod(8).
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95System Management Commands        07/30/2006                        USERDEL(8)
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