USERDEL(8)		  System Management Commands		    USERDEL(8)



NAME
       userdel - delete a user account and related files

SYNOPSIS
       userdel [options] LOGIN

DESCRIPTION
       The userdel command modifies the system account files, deleting all
       entries that refer to login_name. The named user must exist.

OPTIONS
       The options which apply to the userdel command are:

       -f, --force
	  This option forces the removal of the user, even if she is still
	  logged in. It also forces userdel to remove the users home
	  directory or her mail spool, even if another user uses the same home
	  directory or if the mail spool is not owned by the specified user.
	  If USERGROUPS_ENAB is defined to yes in /etc/login.defs and if a
	  group exists with the same name as the deleted user, then this group
	  will be removed, even if it is still the primary group of another
	  user.


	  Note: This option is dangerous and may leave your system in an
	  inconsistent state.

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

       -r, --remove
	  Files in the users home directory will be removed along with the
	  home directory itself and the users mail spool. Files located in
	  other file systems will have to be searched for and deleted
	  manually.

	  The mail spool is defined by the MAIL_DIR variable in the login.defs
	  file.

FILES
       /etc/group
	  Group account information.

       /etc/login.defs
	  Shadow password suite configuration.

       /etc/passwd
	  User account information.

       /etc/shadow
	  Secure user account information.

EXIT VALUES
       The userdel command exits with the following values:

       0
	  success

       1
	  cant update password file

       2
	  invalid command syntax

       6
	  specified user doesnt exist

       8
	  user currently logged in

       10
	  cant update group file

       12
	  cant remove home directory

CAVEATS
       userdel will not allow you to remove an account if the user is
       currently logged in. You must kill any running processes which belong
       to an account that you are deleting.

       You may not remove any NIS attributes on a NIS client. This must be
       performed on the NIS server.

       If USERGROUPS_ENAB is defined to yes in /etc/login.defs, userdel will
       delete the group with the same name as the user. To avoid
       inconsistencies in the passwd and group databases, userdel will check
       that this group is not used as a primary group for another user, and
       will just warn without deleting the user otherwise. The -f option can
       force the deletion of this group.

SEE ALSO
       chfn(1), chsh(1), passwd(1), login.defs(5), gpasswd(8), groupadd(8),
       groupdel(8), groupmod(8), useradd(8), usermod(8).



System Management Commands	  02/25/2007			    USERDEL(8)