This will be more understandable if we take it by an example. Let’s see how many users we have on the system: linux:~ # cat /etc/passwd root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/bin/bash daemon:x:2:2:Daemon:/sbin:/bin/bash lp:x:4:7:Printing daemon:/var/spool/lpd:/bin/bash mail:x:8:12:Mailer daemon:/var/spool/clientmqueue:/bin/false news:x:9:13:News system:/etc/news:/bin/bash uucp:x:10:14:Unix-to-Unix CoPy system:/etc/uucp:/bin/bash games:x:12:100:Games account:/var/games:/bin/bash man:x:13:62:Manual pages viewer:/var/cache/man:/bin/bash at:x:25:25:Batch jobs daemon:/var/spool/atjobs:/bin/bash wwwrun:x:30:8:WWW daemon apache:/var/lib/wwwrun:/bin/false ftp:x:40:49:FTP account:/srv/ftp:/bin/bash postfix:x:51:51:Postfix Daemon:/var/spool/postfix:/bin/false sshd:x:71:65:SSH daemon:/var/lib/sshd:/bin/false […]

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