usermod Command Examples

Modify a user account. See also: users, useradd, userdel. More information: https://manned.org/usermod.

• Change a username:

sudo usermod {{[-l|--login]}} {{new_username}} {{username}}

• Change a user ID:

sudo usermod {{[-u|--uid]}} {{id}} {{username}}

• Change a user shell:

sudo usermod {{[-s|--shell]}} {{path/to/shell}} {{username}}

• Add a user to supplementary groups (mind the lack of whitespace):

sudo usermod {{[-aG|--append --groups]}} {{group1,group2,...}} {{username}}

• Change a user home directory:

sudo usermod {{[-m|--move-home]}} {{[-d|--home]}} {{path/to/new_home}} {{username}}

• Lock an account:

sudo usermod {{[-L|--lock]}} {{username}}

• Unlock an account:

sudo usermod {{[-U|--unlock]}} {{username}}