UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have to create a bunch of functional (non-user) accounts that are owned by 1 person. And I create several of these functional accounts each day so there are several owners. Is there a way to make a password based off an algorithm that uses the owners identification number, so all accounts I create that day will have the same password for the corresponding owner. The algorithm could change based on date but for that 1 day the owner of accounts would receive the same password for what they requested.

Right now I used a formula in xcel:

Code:

=CHAR(MID(N2,3,2)/100*(57-48)+48)&CHAR(N2,blah blah blah)&CHAR(MONTH(NOW())/10*blah blah blah)

Where N2 is the cell of the owner's identification number. Any suggestions?

What you want is a hash. Since I cannot make heads or tails of your Excel example
consider using the userid + todays date. There are lots of hashing programs, you probably have md5sum

Code:

$ echo "`date +%Y%m%d` johnuser" | md5sum | cut -c25-32

This value will be the same all day long. You can adjust the output length, you can get another hashing program. You choose - this is a starting point.

Nice - I just tested it now and it's consistent. I'll google more examples and this is extremely helpful. Thanks!