chfn(1) General Commands Manual chfn(1)
NAME
chfn - change user information used by finger command
SYNOPSIS
[login-name]
[login-name]
[login-name]
[login-name]
DESCRIPTION
The command changes the user information that is stored in the repository for the current logged-in user or for the user specified by
login-name (see passwd(1)).
The information is organized as four comma-separated subfields within the reserved(5th) field of the password file entry. It consists of
the user's full name, location code, office phone number, and home phone number, in that order. This information is used by the command
and other programs (see finger(1)).
prompts you for each subfield. The prompt includes a default value, which is enclosed in brackets. Accept the default value by pressing
the Return key. To enter a blank subfield, type the word
The DCE repository is only available if Integrated Login has been configured; see auth.adm(1M). If Integrated Login has been configured,
other considerations apply. A user with appropriate DCE privileges is capable of modifying a user's (gecos) information; this is not
dependent upon superuser privileges.
If the repository is not specified (as in [login-name]), the information is changed in the file only.
Run after running to make sure the information was processed correctly.
Notes
The command is a hard link to the command. When is executed, actually the command gets executed with appropriate arguments to change the
user gecos information in the repository specified in the command line. If no repository is specified, the gecos information is changed in
the file.
Arguments
login-name A login name of a user.
Options
The following option is recognized:
Specify the repository to which the operation is to be applied.
Supported repositories include and
Subfield Values
Up to 1022 printing characters.
The command and other utilities expand an found anywhere in this subfield by substituting the login name for it
and shifting the first letter of the login name to uppercase. does not alter the input
Up to 1022 printing characters.
Up to 25 printing characters.
inserts appropriate hyphens if the value is all digits.
Up to 25 printing characters.
inserts appropriate hyphens if the value is all digits.
Security Restrictions
You must have appropriate privileges to use the optional login-name argument to change another user's information.
EXAMPLES
The following is a sample run. The user's input is shown in regular type.
WARNINGS
The encoding of office and extension information is installation-dependent.
For historical reasons, the user's name, etc., are stored in the file. This is an inappropriate place to store the information.
Because two or more users may try to write the file at the same time, a synchronization method was developed. prints a message that the
file is busy. When this occurs, sleeps for a short time, then tries to write to the file again.
AUTHOR
was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
FILES
SEE ALSO
chsh(1), finger(1), passwd(1), passwd(4).
chfn(1)