Networking / Beginners

The chage command

The chage command modifies date policies for a user's passwords. It has the following syntax:

chage [options] user-name

The following paragraphs describe the options you can use:

  • -m days: Specifies the minimum number of days allowed between password changes.
  • -M days: Specifies the maximum number of days allowed between password changes.
  • -d date: The date of the last password change.
  • -E date: The date on which the account will expire.
  • -W days: The number of days prior to the password expiring that the user will be warned the password is about to expire.
  • -I days: The number of days of inactivity after the password has expired that the account is locked out. Specify 0 to disable this feature.

Here's an example that sets an account to expire on Halloween 2016:

$ chage -E 2016-10-31 ghost

TipIf you specify a username but no other options, you're prompted to enter each option. This is a lot easier than trying to remember all the switches!

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In this tutorial:

  1. Linux Commands
  2. Command Shell Basics
  3. Editing commands
  4. Wildcards
  5. Redirection and piping
  6. Environment variables
  7. Shell scripts
  8. Directory and File Handling Commands
  9. The cd command
  10. The mkdir command
  11. The rmdir command
  12. The ls command
  13. The cp command
  14. The rm command
  15. The mv command
  16. The touch command
  17. The cat command
  18. Commands for Working with Packages and Services
  19. The rpm command
  20. Commands for Administering Users
  21. The usermod command
  22. The chage command
  23. The passwd command
  24. The newusers command
  25. The groupadd command
  26. The groupdel command
  27. Commands for Managing Ownership and Permissions
  28. The chgrp command
  29. The chmod command
  30. Networking Commands
  31. The ipconfig command
  32. The netstat command
  33. The ping command
  34. The route command
  35. The traceroute command