Get List of Groups on Linux using C++

On Linux systems, managing user and group permissions is important for security and access control. If you're developing software that interacts with users and groups, you may need to retrieve a list of groups available on the system programmatically. This tutorial demonstrates how to get a list of groups on Linux using C++.

The provided code utilizes the grp.h header to access functions related to group management on a Linux system. It retrieves group entries using the getgrent function, which returns a structure containing information about each group. As long as there are more groups, the loop continues, printing the name of each group to the standard output. Finally, the endgrent function is called to close the group file.

#include <grp.h>
#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    group *entry;
    while ((entry = getgrent()) != nullptr) {
        std::cout << entry->gr_name << std::endl;
    }
    endgrent();

    return 0;
}