Passwd (database)
Encyclopedia
passwd is a name service
Name Service Switch
The Name Service Switch is a facility in Unix-like operating systems that provides a variety of sources for common configuration databases and name resolution mechanisms...

 database used to store user account
User (computing)
A user is an agent, either a human agent or software agent, who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified by a username , screen name , nickname , or handle, which is derived from the identical Citizen's Band radio term.Users are...

 information on Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....

 operating systems.

The sources for the passwd database (and hence the sources of user accounts on a system) are configured, like other name service
Name Service Switch
The Name Service Switch is a facility in Unix-like operating systems that provides a variety of sources for common configuration databases and name resolution mechanisms...

databases, in nsswitch.conf.

Fetching a specific user entry

For a specific user called 'joe':

getent passwd joe


For a specific uid being '33':

getent passwd 33
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