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      1 
      2 :mod:`pwd` --- The password database
      3 ====================================
      4 
      5 .. module:: pwd
      6    :platform: Unix
      7    :synopsis: The password database (getpwnam() and friends).
      8 
      9 
     10 This module provides access to the Unix user account and password database.  It
     11 is available on all Unix versions.
     12 
     13 Password database entries are reported as a tuple-like object, whose attributes
     14 correspond to the members of the ``passwd`` structure (Attribute field below,
     15 see ``<pwd.h>``):
     16 
     17 +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+
     18 | Index | Attribute     | Meaning                     |
     19 +=======+===============+=============================+
     20 | 0     | ``pw_name``   | Login name                  |
     21 +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+
     22 | 1     | ``pw_passwd`` | Optional encrypted password |
     23 +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+
     24 | 2     | ``pw_uid``    | Numerical user ID           |
     25 +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+
     26 | 3     | ``pw_gid``    | Numerical group ID          |
     27 +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+
     28 | 4     | ``pw_gecos``  | User name or comment field  |
     29 +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+
     30 | 5     | ``pw_dir``    | User home directory         |
     31 +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+
     32 | 6     | ``pw_shell``  | User command interpreter    |
     33 +-------+---------------+-----------------------------+
     34 
     35 The uid and gid items are integers, all others are strings. :exc:`KeyError` is
     36 raised if the entry asked for cannot be found.
     37 
     38 .. note::
     39 
     40    .. index:: module: crypt
     41 
     42    In traditional Unix the field ``pw_passwd`` usually contains a password
     43    encrypted with a DES derived algorithm (see module :mod:`crypt`).  However most
     44    modern unices  use a so-called *shadow password* system.  On those unices the
     45    *pw_passwd* field only contains an asterisk (``'*'``) or the  letter ``'x'``
     46    where the encrypted password is stored in a file :file:`/etc/shadow` which is
     47    not world readable.  Whether the *pw_passwd* field contains anything useful is
     48    system-dependent.  If available, the :mod:`spwd` module should be used where
     49    access to the encrypted password is required.
     50 
     51 It defines the following items:
     52 
     53 
     54 .. function:: getpwuid(uid)
     55 
     56    Return the password database entry for the given numeric user ID.
     57 
     58 
     59 .. function:: getpwnam(name)
     60 
     61    Return the password database entry for the given user name.
     62 
     63 
     64 .. function:: getpwall()
     65 
     66    Return a list of all available password database entries, in arbitrary order.
     67 
     68 
     69 .. seealso::
     70 
     71    Module :mod:`grp`
     72       An interface to the group database, similar to this.
     73 
     74    Module :mod:`spwd`
     75       An interface to the shadow password database, similar to this.
     76 
     77