Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

Flasher · 2009-05-05 20:09:38

Hello!

At the moment I'm writing a small shell script. I want to search after a specific username in /etc/passwd and if /etc/passwd contains this name, I want to store the path in a variable.

For example:

/etc/passwd:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/zsh
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/bin/false
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/bin/false
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/bin/false
ftp:x:14:11:ftp:/srv/ftp:/bin/false
http:x:33:33:http:/srv/http:/bin/false
nobody:x:99:99:nobody:/:/bin/false
andreas:x:1000:1000::/home/andreas:/bin/bash
dbus:x:81:81:System message bus:/:/bin/false
hal:x:82:82:HAL daemon:/:/bin/false
policykit:x:102:1001:PolicyKit:/:/sbin/nologin
avahi:x:84:84:Avahi daemon:/:/bin/false
gdm:x:120:1002:PolicyKit:/var/lib/gdm:/sbin/nologin

I'm searching for the homepath of user "andreas":

The end-result should be:

echo $homepath

/home/andreas

I can grep the whole line with:

grep $username /etc/passwd

But I have to cut the unnecessary content before and after /home/andreas

Thanks for help!

Best regards,

Flasher

.:B:. · 2009-05-05 20:13:48

I'd say use the 'cut' command and specify : as a delimiter, but you can probably do it with awk too (I don't know how; but I bet you the next post is from someone telling how to do it with awk ).

Anyways - for now:

$ man cut

bobdob · 2009-05-05 20:25:22

This can be done using the delimiter function of cut.

grep $username /etc/passwd | cut -d ':' -f 6

crouse · 2009-05-05 20:28:02

grep andreas /etc/passwd | cut -d: -f6

grep andreas /etc/passwd | awk -F: '{print $6}'

Flasher · 2009-05-05 20:48:53

Thank you, the script is now comleted

djgera · 2009-05-05 21:09:11

awk 'BEGIN {FS=":"} /^andreas:/ { print $6 }' /etc/passwd

(note the : after username)

or more elaborated

awk 'BEGIN{FS=":"} $1 ~ "^andreas$" { print $6 }' /etc/passwd

^ and $ are importan without this you will match ""*andreas*""

also can replace "BEGIN {FS=":"}" with awk -F: 'blah blah'

you decide.

Wra!th · 2009-05-05 21:14:55

Silly little penguins

awk -F: '/andreas/ {print $6}' /etc/passwd

markp1989 · 2009-05-05 21:24:06

why not just "echo $HOME" ?

Wra!th · 2009-05-05 21:27:55

markp1989 wrote:

why not just "echo $HOME" ?

Because he wants A user's home path, not the current logged in user's.

markp1989 · 2009-05-05 22:03:34

Wra!th wrote:

markp1989 wrote:
why not just "echo $HOME" ?
Because he wants A user's home path, not the current logged in user's.

ah i see, i miss read the question

Arch Linux

#1 2009-05-05 20:09:38

Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#2 2009-05-05 20:13:48

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#3 2009-05-05 20:25:22

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#4 2009-05-05 20:28:02

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#5 2009-05-05 20:48:53

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#6 2009-05-05 21:09:11

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#7 2009-05-05 21:14:55

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#8 2009-05-05 21:24:06

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#9 2009-05-05 21:27:55

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

#10 2009-05-05 22:03:34

Re: Extract homepath from /etc/passwd

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