groupdel(1M)groupdel(1M)NAMEgroupdel - delete a group from the system
SYNOPSIS
group
DESCRIPTION
The command deletes a group from the system by removing the appropriate
entry from the file.
The command must be used with the group argument which is the name of
the group to be deleted. The name consists of a string of printable
characters that may not include a colon or newline
Refer to usergroupname(5) to understand the functionality changes with
the Numeric User Group Name feature.
Options
The command uses the following option:
Exercise the safe delete feature. That is, if the gid of the
primary group of any system user matches the gid of
group, then group is not deleted.
NIS
The command is aware of NIS user entries. Only local groups may be
deleted with Attempts to delete an NIS group will result in an error.
NIS groups must be administered from the NIS server. If is used on a
system where NIS is installed, it may fail with the error
(return value 6), if the group specified is an NIS group (see
group(4)).
RETURN VALUE
exits with one of the following values:
No error.
Invalid command syntax.
Invalid argument supplied to an option.
group
does not exist.
Cannot modify the
file.
file or
file busy. Another command may be modifying the file.
Unable to open
or file is non-existent.
group
is busy or cannot delete the primary group.
EXAMPLES
Delete the group from the file if it exists:
WARNINGS
Because many users may try to write the file simultaneously, a password
locking mechanism was devised. If this locking fails after subsequent
retrying, terminates.
FILESSEE ALSOusers(1), groupadd(1M), groupmod(1M), logins(1M), useradd(1M),
userdel(1M), usermod(1M), group(4), usergroupname(5).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCEgroupdel(1M)
