On Unix-like operating systems, the usermod command modifies a user account.

Description

The usermod command is used by an administrator to change a user’s system account settings, as listed in the options below:

  • Description
  • Syntax
  • Notes
  • Configuration
  • Files
  • Examples
  • Related commands
  • Linux commands help

Syntax

usermod [options] LOGIN

Options

Notes

You must make certain that the named user is not executing any processes when this command is being executed if the user’s numerical user ID, the user’s name, or the user’s home directory is being changed. usermod checks this on Linux, but only checks if the user is logged in according to the utmp file on other systems.

You must change the owner of any crontab files or at jobs manually.

You must make any changes involving NIS (Network Information Service) on the NIS server.

Configuration

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

Files

usermod makes use of the following files:

Examples

usermod -d /home/exampleusernew exampleuser

Modifies the home directory for the exampleuser account, changing it to /home/exampleusernew.

chsh — The C shell command interpreter.useradd — Add a user to the system.userdel — Remove a user from the system.