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creating a file by editing another one?

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# 1  
Old 10-25-2008
creating a file by editing another one?
BASH shell:

I'm trying to create a copy of the /etc/passwd file named "./copy-passwd" that contains only the entries for userids that have a home directory in /home/inst, and then change each entry in the copy so that the default login shell is /bin/sh.

Would "sed" be the best choice of file editor? I'm not quite familiar with sed.
# 2  
Old 10-26-2008
awk would be best.
Code:
awk -F: '$6 ~ /^\/home\/inst/ { $7="/bin/sh"; print; } {print}' /etc/passwd >copy-passwd

This isn't exactly what you asked for, but I think it's what you want. If you really don't want the other entries (the ones that have no /home/inst for a home dir), then remove the "{print}".
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