I'm trying to do the following:

Create an alias called whopw that will change directory to the /etc
directory and grep the password file for my username to return my password file entry.

One assumption: Once the alias works, I will be letting all of my friends copy and use it. In other words, the alias must locate their password entry when it is run by them without them having to make any changes to the alias.

I think the string 'who' could help solve my problem.

Any suggestions?

Do both a "who" and "whoami" to see if the output of either of those commands might help. Make sure you understand nesting a command inside another. Research running commands inside of parentheses, and what that does for you. And although you might not need it for this particular assignment, make sure you understand piping the output of a command into the next.

And finally, make sure you understand the rules of this forum regarding homework assignments. Good luck!

Try:

grep `whoami` /etc/passwd

-mk