Shell Programming and Scripting

I am trying to edit my /etc/shadow file globally to make each line change from:
rrrtest:BBBuhiD49QA:12881::::::
rtest1:.GHXbqSCYU:12935::::::
To
rrrtest:BBBuhiD49QA:12881::90:90:::
rtest1:.GHXbqSCYU:12935::90:90:::

I only want to change those columns.

Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

John

nawk -F: -v OFS=':' '{$5=$6=90;print}' /etc/shadow

Or if you really want to use sed, you must throw yourself a metacharacter party

Code:

$ sed 's/^\([^:]*:[^:]*:[^:]*:[^:]*:\)[^:]*:[^:]*\(:.*\)$/\190:90\2/' /etc/shadow

Cheers
ZB

slim till dead

Code:

sed 's/\(.*\)::\(.*:.*:\)/\190:90:\2/'

When dealing with the shadow file I would be much happier to use ZBs version than the last post, since his method does not depend on the content of the fields, merely that the format of the file is valid. The last post depends on the content of the fields also.

Personally I would use nawk since the command is much simple, and when dealing with essential system files I am firmly of the opinion that the simpler it can be done the better, especially for once-off changes.

Slim, but not robust

What happens if one of the lines in shadow already has a value in that particular field?

rrrtest:BBBuhiD49QA:12881::9090:90:::

Oooh dear

But with the code I gave....

rrrtest:BBBuhiD49QA:12881::90:90:::



Cheers
ZB

ZB you beat me to the punch, I could see problems with that but hadn't had the chance to run a test yet.