Wrote a script to create a hidden account in OS X. It works perfect but I need to check if the UID is already in use before I tried to create the account.

dscl . list /Users UniqueID | awk '{print $2}' | while read UIDS
do
if [ "$UIDS" == "$2" ]; then
echo "UID Is Already in USE"
i=`expr "$2" - 1`
echo "$i"
exit 0

use a while loop, something like this

dscl . list /Users UniqueID | awk '{print $2}' | while read UIDS
do
while ( "$UIDS" == "$2")
do
echo "UID Is Already in USE"
i=`expr "$2" - 1`
done
echo "$i"
done

cheers,
Devaraj Takhellambam

I get command not found for every UNIQUE ID. If it's easier can anyone help me start my UID at 499 and count down until it finds one that is not in use?

please correct the first command line in the script


dscl . list /Users UniqueID | awk '{print $2}' | while read UIDS



cheers,
Devaraj Takhellambam

I think it was already correct. Still the same issue. Would you like me to post my entire script? Are you on a MAC?