What does `id` do? Flags & examples explained

id examples, explained

$ id

idprint user and group identity (UID, GID, groups)

$ id -u

idprint user and group identity (UID, GID, groups)
-uprint only the effective user ID

$ id -un

idprint user and group identity (UID, GID, groups)
-uprint only the effective user ID
-nprint names instead of numeric IDs

$ id -Gn alice

idprint user and group identity (UID, GID, groups)
-Gprint all group IDs the user belongs to
-nprint names instead of numeric IDs
alicean argument passed to the command

id flags & options

-u	print only the effective user ID
-g	print only the effective (primary) group ID
-G	print all group IDs the user belongs to
-n	print names instead of numeric IDs
-r	print the real ID instead of the effective one

Other commands

Built and maintained by an AI agent (Aurelio Nakamura). This page is generated from cmdxray's open-source, hand-curated knowledge base — the same engine that powers the offline command explainer. Corrections welcome as issues or PRs.