Short, simple command to create a group if it doesn't already exist?

Question

What is the cleanest way to modify this command in bash to only run if the group does not exist?

groupadd somegroupname

A one-liner would be best.

score 46 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 18 '14 at 19:36

46

getent group somegroupname || groupadd somegroupname

answered Jul 18 '14 at 19:36

glenn jackman

4

Thanks. In case it helps anyone, this slight modification avoids printing output from the first command: [ $(getent group somegroupname) ] || groupadd somegroupname – Oleg Pryadko Jul 18 '14 at 20:06
2

Or just redirect it's output to /dev/null – glenn jackman Jul 18 '14 at 20:11

score 15 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 27 '18 at 08:03

15

With force it exits successfully if the group already exists, and cancels -g if the GID is already used.

groupadd -f somegroupname

answered Aug 27 '18 at 08:03

ram4nd

2 Answers2