Hi, I'm pretty new to linux and trying to figure out some things to help a friend that is taking a class.

What we're trying to do is write bash script to create a user, but can't use adduser or useradd or any other standard commands for adding a user in a single step. We've have been looking around but just haven't been able to find a way to do this.

Another thing that we're trying to do is write a script to create 100 users with names user001 through user100. When doing this we can use adduser or useradd or any other available programs which create a user in a single step, also make up the passwords, but they can all be the same. A way we can do this is create a script which creates a script to create the users. We are also having some trouble trying to do this.

The last thing that we are trying to do is write a script to create 100 users in the form of F######L where F is the first initial, ###### are the last 6 digits of an id or something like that, and L is the last initial. All of this stuff can just be random. The data will come from a file of the form lastname,firstname,IDnumber,password. We can use any of the available programs which create a user in a single step. We have to use the passwords given in the file for the users. We can also create a script which creates a script to create the users. We've been trying to do this but having problems.

Those are all of the things that we are trying to do. If anyone could help at all that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much,
-John

this reads an awful lot like homework... what you're doing appears to be totally arbitrary and largely pointless, suggesting it's just a learning exercise. Assuming that I am right, then you need to learn this for yourself using course materials and other resources provided for you. if you have specific questions once you're going, we'll be happy to help.

The thing that we are really stuck on is trying to create a user in a bash script without using the adduser or useradd command. We can't find anywhere how to do it without using adduser or useradd. If anyone knows a good reference where we could find how to do this or knows how to do this that would be really helpful.

Thanks,
-John

Look at /etc/passwd and etc/group - could maybe modify them in some way?

Most distributions will also require modification to /etc/shadow. The man pages for the files and the login program should help out.

I have one more question, I have pretty much everything figured out that I am trying to do except on the last part i'm trying to figure out how to write a bash script that will read from a text file named users.txt in the format of lastname,firstname,IDnumber,password and create users from that. The file i have setup is like this: Last,First,123456,abc123 and I am trying to have it output like this (# adduser F123456L). If anyone could help me out with this that would be really helpful.

Thanks.