useradd

Create a new user

$ sudo useradd username

$ sudo useradd -u 1001 username

$ sudo useradd -s /bin/zsh username

$ sudo useradd -G group1,group2 username

$ sudo useradd -m username

$ sudo useradd -k /etc/skel -m username

$ sudo useradd -r username

useradd [options] LOGIN

useradd is a low-level utility for adding users to the system. It updates system files and optionally creates home directories with initial files. On Debian-based systems, the higher-level adduser command is often preferred.

-c, --comment COMMENT

Set user's full name or description (GECOS field)

Specify custom home directory path

Set account expiration date (YYYY-MM-DD)

Days after password expires until account is disabled

Assign primary group

Add to supplementary groups

Specify skeleton directory for home directory files

Create the user's home directory

Do not create home directory

Set encrypted password

Create a system account

Set login shell

Assign specific user ID

Create a group with same name as user

Do not create a matching group

Display or modify default values

/etc/default/useradd

Default values for home directory base, shell, group, expiry, and skeleton directory.

System-wide user account creation policies including UID/GID ranges, password aging, and home directory creation settings.

Skeleton directory whose contents are copied to new home directories when created with -m.

The -p option requires an already-encrypted password. Do not use plain text passwords on the command line. Prefer using passwd to set passwords after user creation.

useradd is part of the shadow-utils package, managing user account security on Unix systems. On Debian systems, adduser provides a friendlier interface.

adduser(8), userdel(8), usermod(8), passwd(1), groupadd(8)