spwd module in Python

spwd module in Python provides access to the Unix shadow password database. The entries stored in the database is tuple-like objects whose attributes are similar as the members of spwd structure defined in <shadow.h> header file.

Following are the attributes of tuple-like object which represents the entries stored in Unix shadow password database:

Index	Attributes	Meaning
0	sp_namp	Login name
1	sp_pwdp	Encrypted password
2	sp_lstchg	Date of last change
3	sp_min	Minimal number of days between changes
4	sp_max	Maximum number of days between changes
5	sp_warn	Number of days before password expires to warn user about it
6	sp_inact	Number of days after password expires until account is disabled
7	sp_expire	Number of days since 1970-01-01 when account expires
8	sp_flag	Reserved

spwd module in Python defines following two methods:

• spwd.getspnam() method
• spwd.getspall() method

Note: spwd module is UNIX specific service. So, all methods of this module is available on UNIX versions only.

spwd.getspnam() method -

spwd.getspnam() method in Python is used to get the entry stored in Unix shadow password database for the specified user name.
This method requires the user to have enough privileges to access the shadow password database. PermissionError exception will be raised in case user do not have enough privileges.

Syntax: spwd.getspnam(name)

Parameter:
name: A string value representing the user name for which shadow password database entry is required.

Return type: This method returns a tuple-like object of class ‘spwd.struct_spwd’ which represents the shadow password database entry associated with the specified user name.

Code: Use of spwd.getspnam() method

# Python program to explain spwd.getspnam() method

# importing spwd module
import spwd

# User name
name = "ihritik"

# Get the shadow password
# database entry for the
# specified user name
# using spwd.getspnam() method
entry = spwd.getspnam(name)

# Print the retrieved entry
print("Shadow password database entry for the user name '%s':" %name)
print(entry)

# User name
name = "root"

# Get the shadow password
# database entry for the
# specified user name
# using spwd.getspnam() method
entry = spwd.getspnam(name)

# Print the retrieved entry
print("\nShadow password database entry for the user name '%s':" %name)
print(entry)

Output:

spwd.getspall() method -

spwd.getspall() method in Python is used to get the all available entries stored in shadow password database. This method also requires the user to have enough privileges to access the shadow password database.

Syntax: spwd.getspall()

Parameter: No parameter is required.

Return type: This method returns a list of tuple-like object of class ‘spwd.struct_spwd’ whose elements represent the shadow password database entries.

Code: Use of spwd.getspall() method

# Python program to explain spwd.getspall() method

# importing spwd module
import spwd

# Get the all available
# shadow password database entries
# using spwd.getspall() method
entries = spwd.getspall()


# Print the retrieved entries
print("Shadow password database entries:")
for row in entries:
    print(row)

Output:

Shadow password database entries:
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’root’, sp_pwdp=’!’, sp_lstchg=17677, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’daemon’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’bin’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’sys’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’sync’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’games’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’man’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’lp’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’mail’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’news’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’uucp’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’proxy’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’www-data’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’backup’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’list’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’irc’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’gnats’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’nobody’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’systemd-timesync’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’systemd-network’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’systemd-resolve’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’systemd-bus-proxy’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’syslog’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’messagebus’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’_apt’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’uuidd’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’rtkit’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’avahi-autoipd’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’usbmux’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’dnsmasq’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’whoopsie’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’kernoops’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’speech-dispatcher’, sp_pwdp=’!’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’avahi’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’saned’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’pulse’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’colord’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’hplip’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’geoclue’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’gdm’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17536, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’ihritik’, sp_pwdp=’$6$xOnnKlQr$yiKkE4XS1zT9mUj9NARHUTLZ8ibWurTx4pjQYOC58YHGGGBWTI3GIFKU4RUWC99JmPZIsfSlSvtm1GAyJL1G41′, sp_lstchg=17677, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’sshd’, sp_pwdp=’*’, sp_lstchg=17692, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)
spwd.struct_spwd(sp_namp=’master’, sp_pwdp=’$6$oMUtyit0$zCrJ3K5XEWEhqclJW.rsL9SP3zWHkLhT8rQ75fhJ4P6zZlhF3aOfymQT8A/VRqkJrutWCuWXvaekMUP/IIgFG1′, sp_lstchg=17972, sp_min=0, sp_max=99999, sp_warn=7, sp_inact=-1, sp_expire=-1, sp_flag=-1)