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`groups`

Show the names of the groups a user is in.

What it does

groups prints the group names of the current process, or of the users you name. It is the same as id -Gn. The first name is the primary group.

groups [OPTION]... [USER]...

Most used

$ run as a normal user# run as root (or with sudo)

$groups lisa omar
lisa : lisa webadmins
omar : omar wheel webadmins

With names, each line starts with the user.

#usermod -aG webadmins student
$groups; groups student
student wheel
student : student wheel webadmins

The shell gets the new group only after a new login.

$groups | grep -qw wheel && echo "you can use sudo"

wheel = sudo on RHEL.

5Count the groups of a user
```
$groups lisa | wc -w
```
The output includes the name and the colon for a named user.
6Use it in a script for many users
```
$for u in anna bob carol; do groups "$u"; done
```
Fast check after a lab.
7Compare with id
```
$id -Gn lisa
```
Same names, no "lisa :" before them.
8Check a group for a shared folder
```
$groups | grep -w sales
```
Needed to write in a folder owned by group sales.
9Check the groups of a service user
```
$groups apache
apache : apache
```
Service accounts should have as few groups as possible.
10Find members of the docker or wheel group (audit)
```
$getent group wheel
```
groups shows per user; getent group shows per group.

0 :: Done. 1 :: A user does not exist.

This page explains the command in simple words. The original manual has every detail.

In your terminal: man groups