check username

[Mauro Gatti]

Hi All, I'd like to know if exists a way to check if a given userid esists on system or not.
I'd like to have an exit status like 0 = exist 1 = doesn't exist...
Do You know what I can do?

Thank you

[Pete Randall · Accepted solution]

grep username /etc/passwd

[Jose Mosquera]

Hi,

This way is full specific user's name retrieval:

#grep ^username: /etc/passwd

Rgds.

[T G Manikandan]

#logins|awk -F " " '{print $1}'|grep

[Robin Wakefield]

Hi,

If you want to check NIS too, then maybe use perl:

var=`perl -e '{print ! (defined getpwnam shift)|| 0}' username`

this will give you the return codes as in your question.

rgds, Robin

[Norman_21]

Hi,

Another way,

#more /etc/passwd
press and type the user name you are looking for.
e.g) \username and press Enter key get the result.

Thanks.