Unix Programming - Shell program : Get Emails

Author

Shell program : Get Emails

mano

2006-09-20, 7:00 pm

I am trying to write a program decribed below using any shell.

Can anyone suggest wich shell is better?

The program takes one argument <file> that contains a set of lines.
Each line starts with last name of a person followed by the first and
possibly other given names.
The program uses the <file> and the UNIX password file (PassFile) to
produce three files:
<file>-NameEmailList
<file>-EmailList
<file>-NotFoundList
For example:
% getmails InputFile
Produces:
the following 3 files:

InputFile-NameEmailList
InputFile-EmailList
InputFile-NotFoundList

The procedure is as given below:

=D8 For a given person P, search the PassFile for a match of both the
first and last name.

If there is exactly one match, insert the information of P into:

<file>-NameEmailList & <file>-EmailList.

=D8 Otherwise, search for a match of either the first or the last
name.

If there is at least one match, ask the user to select the right match.

If the user selects a match, insert the information of P into:

<file>-NameEmailList & <file>-EmailList.

=D8 If there is no match or the user did not select any mach, then
insert P's name into:

<file>-NotFoundList

---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
---------------------------------------------------
This is the program I am trying to write ....
Can anyone give me an idea regarding this one .

Thanx in advance.

Chris F.A. Johnson

2006-09-21, 10:00 pm

On 2006-09-20, mano wrote:
> I am trying to write a program decribed below using any shell.
>
> Can anyone suggest wich shell is better?

Any POSIX shell (bash, ksh, ash, ...) will probably do the job.

> The program takes one argument <file> that contains a set of lines.
> Each line starts with last name of a person followed by the first and
> possibly other given names.

In what format?

> The program uses the <file> and the UNIX password file (PassFile) to
> produce three files:
><file>-NameEmailList
><file>-EmailList
><file>-NotFoundList
> For example:
> % getmails InputFile
> Produces:
> the following 3 files:
>
> InputFile-NameEmailList
> InputFile-EmailList
> InputFile-NotFoundList
>
> The procedure is as given below:
>
> Ø For a given person P, search the PassFile for a match of both the
> first and last name.
>
> If there is exactly one match, insert the information of P into:
>
><file>-NameEmailList & <file>-EmailList.
>
>
> Ø Otherwise, search for a match of either the first or the last
> name.
>
> If there is at least one match, ask the user to select the right match.

ITYM, more than one match.

> If the user selects a match, insert the information of P into:
>
><file>-NameEmailList & <file>-EmailList.
>
>
> Ø If there is no match or the user did not select any mach, then
> insert P's name into:
>
><file>-NotFoundList

This should get you started:

LF=$'\n'
while read last first middle
do
user=$( grep -e "$last.*$first" /etc/password )
case $user in
*"$LF"*) select_user ;; ## write a function for the selection
*) printf "%s\n" "$user" >> "$1-EmailList"
done < "$1"

--
Chris F.A. Johnson, author | <http://cfaj.freeshell.org>
Shell Scripting Recipes: | My code in this post, if any,
A Problem-Solution Approach | is released under the
2005, Apress | GNU General Public Licence

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