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ID

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: February 2026
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id - print real and effective user and group IDs

id [,OPTION/]... [,USER/]...

Print user and group information for each specified USER, or (when USER omitted) for the current process.

X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#i-a'-aX'tty: link': ignore, for compatibility with other versions
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#i-Z'-Z, --contextX'tty: link': print only the security context of the process
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#i-g'-g, --groupX'tty: link': print only the effective group ID
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#i-G'-G, --groupsX'tty: link': print all group IDs
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#i-n'-n, --nameX'tty: link': print a name instead of a number, for -u,-g,-G
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#i-r'-r, --realX'tty: link': print the real ID instead of the effective ID, with -u,-g,-G
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#i-u'-u, --userX'tty: link': print only the effective user ID
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#i-z'-z, --zeroX'tty: link': delimit entries with NUL characters, not whitespace; not permitted in default format
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/id#i-help'--helpX'tty: link': display this help and exit
X'tty: link https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/id#i-version'--versionX'tty: link': output version information and exit

Without any OPTION, print some useful set of identified information.

Written by Arnold Robbins and David MacKenzie.