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SG

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 02/01/2026
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NAME

sg - execute command as different group ID

SYNOPSIS

sg [-] group [[-c] command]

DESCRIPTION

The sg command works similar to newgrp but accepts a command. The command will be executed with the /bin/sh shell. With most shells you may run sg from, you need to enclose multi-word commands in quotes. Another difference between newgrp and sg is that some shells treat newgrp specially, replacing themselves with a new instance of a shell that newgrp creates. This doesn't happen with sg, so upon exit from an sg command you are returned to your previous group ID.

OPTIONS

The options which apply to the sg command are:

-, -l

: Start the shell as a login shell.

-c

: Specify a command that will be invoked by the shell using its -c.
This is the default; for backward compatibility.

CONFIGURATION

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

SYSLOG_SG_ENAB (boolean)

: Enable "syslog" logging of sg activity.

FILES

/etc/passwd

: User account information.

/etc/shadow

: Secure user account information.

/etc/group

: Group account information.

/etc/gshadow

: Secure group account information.