Shell Programming and Scripting

hi
How can I change the home directory of a user without using usermod -d command?
( by modifying /etc/passwd)

I must ask, is there a specific reason why you can't use the usermod command?

because this command is not working, someone made modification in kernel

I ran across this script with a simple google search for

Code:

awk -vold=$old_homedir_path -vnew=$new_homedir_path -F: '
BEGIN {OFS = ":"}
{sub(old,new,$6);print}' /etc/passwd > /etc/passwd.new

Oddly enough, there's no sed here ;P

With sed it should be something like:

Code:

sed '/user/s!\(.*:\).*:\(.*\)!\1/newdir/name:\2!' /etc/passwd > /etc/passwd.new

Regards

the user will enter the username and then new home dir path, and I will change it according to these new variables.

echo "enter username to change homedir";

read username;

echo "enter new path for this user";

read pathh;

## Awk or sed command

I cannot be able to change the homedir of a user by using the above variables.
The posted awk and sed command is a little bit diifrent.

Just a head start:

Code:

awk -v user="user" -v path="new_path" 'BEGIN{FS=OFS=":"}$1==user{$6=new_path}1' /etc/passwd