The shadow password file is used only for authentication and is not world readable -- there is no information in the shadow password file that a common program will ever need -- no regular user has permission see the encrypted password field. The fields are colon separated just like the passwd file.
Here is an example line from a /etc/shadow file:
nik:Q,Jpl.or6u2e7:10795:0:99999:7:-1:-1:134537220
nik - The user's login name.
Q,Jpl.or6u2e7 - The user's encrypted password known as the hash of the password.
10795 - Days since the January 1, 1970 that the password was last changed.
0 - Days before which password may not be changed. Usually zero. This field is not often used.
99999 - Days after which password must be changed. This is also rarely used, and will be set to 99999 by default.
7 - Days before password is to expire that user is warned of pending password expiration.
-1 - Days after password expires that account is considered inactive and disabled. -1 is used to indicate infinity -- i.e. to mean we are effectively not using this feature.
-1 - Days since January 1, 1970 when account will be disabled.
134537220 - Flag reserved for future use.
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source:http://linuxpoison.blogspot.com/2008/08/13578175711992.html