The dseditgroup command is a powerful utility available on macOS that allows administrators to manage groups within the local directory service. This tool is particularly important for system administrators who need to create, delete, and modify group memberships programmatically. Managing groups efficiently is crucial for maintaining proper access controls and user permissions within an organization. This article will guide you through the basic usage of dseditgroup, providing practical examples to help you understand its functionality.

Examples:

1. Creating a New Group

   To create a new group, you can use the -o create option followed by the group name. For example, to create a group named developers:

   sudo dseditgroup -o create developers

2. Adding a User to a Group

   To add a user to a group, use the -o edit option along with -a to add and -t user to specify the type. For example, to add a user named john to the developers group:

   sudo dseditgroup -o edit -a john -t user developers

3. Removing a User from a Group

   To remove a user from a group, use the -o edit option along with -d to delete and -t user to specify the type. For example, to remove the user john from the developers group:

   sudo dseditgroup -o edit -d john -t user developers

4. Deleting a Group

   To delete a group, use the -o delete option followed by the group name. For example, to delete the developers group:

   sudo dseditgroup -o delete developers

5. Listing Group Members

   To list the members of a group, you can use the -o read option followed by the group name. For example, to list the members of the developers group:

   dseditgroup -o read developers