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grep for password file entry

 
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# 8  
Old 03-11-2011
The difference between these two is that the second version makes an exact match on the username field whereas the first version makes a match on any string in the password file containing those characters.
Quote:
grep `whoami` /etc/passwd
grep \^`whoami`: /etc/passwd
Though the first version may appear to work it is not safe with large password files.
Consider for example usernames "fred" "alfred" and "freda". When you search for username "fred" you only want the one hit.
 
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LEARN ABOUT OPENSOLARIS

pwconv

pwconv(1M)						  System Administration Commands						pwconv(1M)

NAME

       pwconv - installs and updates /etc/shadow with information from /etc/passwd

SYNOPSIS

       pwconv

DESCRIPTION

       The pwconv command creates and updates /etc/shadow with information from /etc/passwd.

       pwconv relies on a special value of 'x' in the password field of /etc/passwd. This value of 'x' indicates that the password for the user is
       already in /etc/shadow and should not be modified.

       If the /etc/shadow file does not exist, this command will create /etc/shadow with  information  from  /etc/passwd.  The	command  populates
       /etc/shadow  with  the  user's  login  name,  password,	and  password  aging  information. If password aging information does not exist in
       /etc/passwd for a given user, none will be added to  /etc/shadow. However, the last changed information will always be updated.

       If the  /etc/shadow file does exist, the following tasks will be performed:

	   Entries that are in the  /etc/passwd file and not in the /etc/shadow file will be added to the /etc/shadow file.

	   Entries that are in the  /etc/shadow file and not in the /etc/passwd file will be removed from /etc/shadow.

	   Password attributes (for example, password and aging information)  that exist in an /etc/passwd entry will be moved to the  correspond-
	   ing entry in  /etc/shadow.

       The pwconv command can only be used by the super-user.

FILES

       /etc/opasswd

       /etc/oshadow

       /etc/passwd

       /etc/shadow

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       passwd(1), passmgmt(1M), usermod(1M), passwd(4), attributes(5)

DIAGNOSTICS

       pwconv exits with one of the following values:

       0    SUCCESS.

       1    Permission denied.

       2    Invalid command syntax.

       3    Unexpected failure.  Conversion not done.

       4    Unexpected failure.  Password file(s) missing.

       5    Password file(s) busy.  Try again later.

       6    Bad entry in /etc/shadow file.

SunOS 5.11							    9 Mar 1993								pwconv(1M)