Manual: groupdel

GROUPDEL(8)					 System Management Commands					 GROUPDEL(8)

NAME
       groupdel - delete a group

SYNOPSIS

       groupdel [options] GROUP

DESCRIPTION
       The groupdel command modifies the system account files, deleting all entries that refer to GROUP. The named group
       must exist.

OPTIONS
       The options which apply to the groupdel command are:

       -f, --force
	   This option forces the removal of the group, even if there's some user having the group as the primary one.

       -h, --help
	   Display help message and exit.

       -R, --root CHROOT_DIR
	   Apply changes in the CHROOT_DIR directory and use the configuration files from the CHROOT_DIR directory. Only
	   absolute paths are supported.

       -P, --prefix PREFIX_DIR
	   Apply changes in the PREFIX_DIR directory and use the configuration files from the PREFIX_DIR directory. This
	   option does not chroot and is intended for preparing a cross-compilation target. Some limitations: NIS and LDAP
	   users/groups are not verified. PAM authentication is using the host files. No SELINUX support.

CAVEATS
       You may not remove the primary group of any existing user. You must remove the user before you remove the group.

       You should manually check all file systems to ensure that no files remain owned by this group.

CONFIGURATION
       The following configuration variables in /etc/login.defs change the behavior of this tool:

       MAX_MEMBERS_PER_GROUP (number)
	   Maximum members per group entry. When the maximum is reached, a new group entry (line) is started in /etc/group
	   (with the same name, same password, and same GID).

	   The default value is 0, meaning that there are no limits in the number of members in a group.

	   This feature (split group) permits to limit the length of lines in the group file. This is useful to make sure
	   that lines for NIS groups are not larger than 1024 characters.

	   If you need to enforce such limit, you can use 25.

	   Note: split groups may not be supported by all tools (even in the Shadow toolsuite). You should not use this
	   variable unless you really need it.

FILES
       /etc/group
	   Group account information.

       /etc/gshadow
	   Secure group account information.

EXIT VALUES
       The groupdel command exits with the following values:

       0
	   success

       2
	   invalid command syntax

       6
	   specified group doesn't exist

       8
	   can't remove user's primary group

       10
	   can't update group file

SEE ALSO
       chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8), groupmod(8), useradd(8), userdel(8), usermod(8).

shadow-utils 4.17.4					 02/02/2026						 GROUPDEL(8)