Create User in Linux

Use adduser or useradd command to create user accounts on Linux system. Some of the operating systems provide only one command. All the user’s entry is available in /etc/passwd file.

Syntax:

$ adduser [options] USER_NAME

adduser vs useradd command

On Debian systems, adduser is a separate Perl script to create user accounts with enhanced options. It also uses the useradd command in the background for creating accounts. But on Redhat and many other derivatives just have adduser as symlink of useradd command.

Create User in Linux

Use the adduser command to create user test on your system. This will prompt for the password and some other details on Debian systems.

$ adduser test

You can also override the default values with adduser command. For example to specify the home directory and the default shell for the user.

$ adduser --home "/var/www/test" --shell "/bin/sh" test