2

How do I pass the $line to the cut command properly in this loop?

while read line
do
    login= $(cut -d : -f 1)

done < /etc/passwd

I can't do $(cut -d : -f 1 $line) so what is the correct way?

3 Answers 3

1

You don't actually need the while loop if your intention is only to list the names. Also there is a syntax error after login=, there should be no space.

cut -d: -f1 /etc/passwd | \
while read login; 
do 
    echo username: $login;
done

or as you tried:

while read line; do
   login=$(echo $line | cut -d : -f 1)
   echo $login
done < /etc/passwd

even better:

db-getent passwd |cut -d: -f1 | xargs -L1 echo name:
2
  • 1
    +1 for getent. In your first example, line continuations are not required after a pipe. Mar 11, 2013 at 1:14
  • Perfect! Thanks Ярослав, the loop was a snippet of code from a larger while loop so your second suggestion is perfect for me.
    – Mike
    Mar 11, 2013 at 17:54
3

Let the read command together with the shell IFS variable parse the line for you:

while IFS=: read -r login restOfLine; do
    doSomethingWith $login
done < /etc/passwd

To answer your question, the bash here-string would be useful:

login=$(cut -d: -f1 <<< "$line")
1
  • 1
    The here-string is nice and tidy I like that! Cheers.
    – Mike
    Mar 11, 2013 at 18:01
2

Use echo:

login=$(echo "$line" | cut -d : -f 1)

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