getting gawk to operate on a string in a bash script

Lordandmaker · 02-23-2007, 06:26 AM

I'm just (finally) making my first forays into bash scripting, and the first project i've set myself is essentially a finger clone.

But I'm having trouble with this line:

Code:

uid=$(gawk -F: '{ print $3 }' "$passwd" )

I've no idea how to get gawk to operate on the variable (which is a line grepped out of /etc/passwd). I've tried a few combinations of quote marks, but none want to work.

I've googled a few things, but not found anything useful.

The only way I can get it to work is to write the grep output to an external file, and then get gawk to operate on it.

wjevans_7d1@yahoo.co · 02-23-2007, 09:19 AM

ITYM:

Code:

uid=$(echo "$passwd" | gawk -F: '{print $3}')

Hope this helps.

Lordandmaker · 02-23-2007, 09:43 AM

Oh yes! How the hell did I manage not to see that?

*kicks himself*

wjevans_7d1@yahoo.co · 02-26-2007, 12:01 PM

I've had far more experience in kicking myself than you have, son. (grin)