Please help me on two shell scripts: 1. the script simulates the ls -l command but prints only three columns of our choice. 2. the script makes a file out of the information in the etc/passwd. file using the following format: User Name User ID Group ID Home Directory Apericiate your help deeply. Sharan

Hi, i think this is your homework! I don't tell you the full solution. But have a look into the awk manpages!!! Have a nice day greets struzzo

You are right. That's my homework. I've been staring at them for three weeks. I believed that if my book knows how to complain, I am in the jail right now (because I abused it badly). The book doesn't really help a beginner beginner like me. Anyway, that's for your help! Sharan

awk deals with input generally separated by spaces but can be forced to use other field separators. ls -l | awk '{ print $1 " " $4 }' will print the first column, a space and the fouth column cut can deal with any single character as a field delimitor, but in this case it would be easier to name the field separator in awk echo "User Name (gecos) userid home directory" > outfile cat /etc/passwd | \ awk --field-separator : \ '{print $5 " " $1 " " $6}' >> outfile O'Reilly has a great book covering sed and awk.