Homework & Coursework Questions

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1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data:
I have to read the contents of each field of a file creating user accounts.
The file will be of format :

username : student information : default shell : student ID
Eg :

Code:

joeb:Joe Bennett:/bin/csh:1234
jerryd:Jerry Daniels:/bin/csh:2345
deaverm: Deaver Michelle:/bin/bash:4356
joseyg:Josey Guerra:/bin/bash:8767
michaelh:Michael Hall:/bin/ksh:1547

again i need group them to a group, depending on the first initial of their username, in the following manner: Username Group GID
A-E sce 601
F-J edu 602
K-N bus 603
O-S bio 604
T-Z math 605


2. Relevant commands, code, scripts, algorithms:
cat
touch
useradd
groupadd
passwd
read

3. The attempts at a solution (include all code and scripts):

i have created a file with the contents .. in such a way that , wach field is seperated by delimiters.

Now, the problem is, how should i read each field from every line.

After that i even have to know a way of determining the 1st letter of the 1st field,
so that i can send it into a case statement for deciding the group.
4. Complete Name of School (University), City (State), Country, Name of Professor, and Course Number (Link to Course):

University of Houston , Clear Lake, US

Professor name : Krishani Abeysekera

Course number : CSCI 4634
Krishani Abeysekera - Lecturer and Systems Administrator



---------- Post updated at 07:19 PM ---------- Previous update was at 05:16 PM ----------

Small hint..will help me!!

---------- Post updated at 08:56 PM ---------- Previous update was at 07:19 PM ----------

Hint please!!!

What language? What OS? I can't read that Greek stuff.

Code:

#! /usr/bin/ksh
IFS=":"
exec < inputfile
while read loginname fullname shell id ; do
        echo loginname = $loginname
        echo fullname = $fullname
        echo shell = $shell
        echo id = $id
done
exit 0

This is a start if your ksh is in /usr/bin/ksh. It shows how to read a file and crack it into fields.

@perderabo .. first of all thanks for the reply..

i have installed fedora 14 on a virtual box on windows 7..

and actually i was doing a bash script..

TIA

bash and ksh are pretty close. Just change the first line to #! /bin/bash

Thanku so much..will try this one!!

---------- Post updated at 01:31 AM ---------- Previous update was at 12:54 AM ----------

One last question ..

i got the account name into $loginname variable ..

Is there any way that .. i can just get the 1st letter from the variable "loginname"

---------- Post updated at 01:33 AM ---------- Previous update was at 01:31 AM ----------

Actually i have to use a case construct to assign a group to username, based on the 1st letter ..

So,. i just wanted a way to retrieve the 1st letter from the variable .. loginname

---------- Post updated at 02:01 AM ---------- Previous update was at 01:33 AM ----------

I almost completed the project .. just stuck at the group assigning section now .

${VAR:0:1} will eval to the first letter in the VAR variable in BASH and newer versions of ksh (ksh88/pdksh is too old, which causes much consternation). Sorry for the slow answer but you ran afoul of time zones, it seems.

actually.. done with everything...

the only problem now is,

i can see all the accounts created in /etc/passwd file..

but in the login screen, its not showing the 1st two accounts created

---------- Post updated at 03:29 PM ---------- Previous update was at 03:11 PM ----------

problem got rectified..
Thank you every one..

The actual problem was.. i was giving the shells for the accounts as "ksh and csh " and that was the problem