redhat man page for chpasswd

CHPASSWD(8)						      System Manager's Manual						       CHPASSWD(8)

NAME
       chpasswd - update password file in batch

SYNOPSIS
       chpasswd [-e]

DESCRIPTION
       chpasswd  reads	a  file of user name and password pairs from standard input and uses this information to update a group of existing users.
       Without the -e switch, the passwords are expected to be cleartext. With the -e switch, the passwords are expected to be in encrypted  form.
       Each line is of the format

	      user_name:password

       The named user must exist.  The supplied password will be encrypted as necessary, and the password age updated, if present.

       This command is intended to be used in a large system environment where many accounts are created at a single time.

CAVEATS
       The input file must be protected if it contains unencrypted passwords.

SEE ALSO
       passwd(1), newusers(8), useradd(8)

AUTHOR
       Julianne Frances Haugh (jockgrrl@ix.netcom.com)

																       CHPASSWD(8)