The useradd command can be used to create a users account in Linux.

Create user

The useradd command followed by username can be used to create a user account.

~]# useradd john.doe

Change password

The -p or --password option and OpenSSL can be used to create an encrypted password for the user.

useradd --password "$(openssl passwd -1 itsasecret)" john.doe

Or, more commonly, the passwd command is used after the users account has been created.

passwd john.doe

Create home directory

The -m or --create-home or -d or --home-dir options can be used to create the users home directory. In this example, the home directory is /home/john.doe.

useradd --home-dir /home/john.doe john.doe

Create default shell

The -s or --shell option can be used to create the users default shell (/bin/bash in this example).

useradd --shell /bin/bash john.doe

Join a group

The -G or --groups option can be used to add a new user to a group. In this example, john.doe is added to the group named "wheel".

useradd --groups wheel john.doe

Add comment

The -c option can be used to add a comment. The comment is typically the users first and last name.

~]# useradd -c "John Doe" john.doe

View users account

The /etc/passwd file will contain the users account. Refer to Linux Files - Understanding the /etc/passwd file to view the users account.