command line to set a password to a new userid

I need to write a script to create a new userid in a Linux environment.
That's done. Now i like to set a password for this userid, note that i want to do it in a script , not from a command line.

I had:
useradd -d /home/mht mht
I used crypt to create a new password and used the command:
usermod -p "encrypted password" mht.

This doesn't work. I saw in the /etc/shadow , other id has encrypted password starting with $. I guess my password is from crypt so it won't work. How do i encrypt my password so it can be copied to the command usermod -p.

Originally posted by myhato How do i encrypt my password so it can be copied to the command usermod -p.

I don't think you can.......the shadow program encrypts passwords that are already stored in
/etc/passwd file..........

You can (I think) use openssl to encrypt your password.

Pipe the password through openssl: openssl passwd -1 -stdin

Example:

echo password | openssl passwd -1 -stdin

I tried this, and it seemed to work....

useradd test -p `echo test | openssl passwd -1 -stdin`

Originally posted by jimrt You can (I think) use openssl to encrypt your password. Pipe the password through openssl: openssl passwd -1 -stdin Example: echo password | openssl passwd -1 -stdin I tried this, and it seemed to work.... useradd test -p `echo test | openssl passwd -1 -stdin`

This is great. It works fine. Thanks.