:mod:spwd --- The shadow password database

.. module:: spwd :platform: Unix :synopsis: The shadow password database (getspnam() and friends).

---

This module provides access to the Unix shadow password database. It is available on various Unix versions.

You must have enough privileges to access the shadow password database (this usually means you have to be root).

Shadow password database entries are reported as a tuple-like object, whose attributes correspond to the members of the spwd structure (Attribute field below, see <shadow.h>):

+-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | Index | Attribute | Meaning | +=======+===============+=================================+ | 0 | sp_namp | Login name | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | 1 | sp_pwdp | Encrypted password | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | 2 | sp_lstchg | Date of last change | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | 3 | sp_min | Minimal number of days between | | | | changes | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | 4 | sp_max | Maximum number of days between | | | | changes | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | 5 | sp_warn | Number of days before password | | | | expires to warn user about it | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | 6 | sp_inact | Number of days after password | | | | expires until account is | | | | disabled | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | 7 | sp_expire | Number of days since 1970-01-01 | | | | when account expires | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+ | 8 | sp_flag | Reserved | +-------+---------------+---------------------------------+

The sp_namp and sp_pwdp items are strings, all others are integers. :exc:KeyError is raised if the entry asked for cannot be found.

The following functions are defined:

.. function:: getspnam(name)

Return the shadow password database entry for the given user name.

.. versionchanged:: 3.6 Raises a :exc:PermissionError instead of :exc:KeyError if the user doesn't have privileges.

.. function:: getspall()

Return a list of all available shadow password database entries, in arbitrary order.

.. seealso::

Module :mod:grp An interface to the group database, similar to this.

Module :mod:pwd An interface to the normal password database, similar to this.