grep: illegal option----????????

[Constantine_1]

#! /bin/ksh
#
print "Login Name\t" "Pri Group\t" "Member of Group"

grep -i "${1}" /etc/passwd > /dev/null
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
grep -i "${1}" /etc/passwd | awk 'BEGIN {
print "\n"
FS=":"
OFS="\t" }
{
GROUP=""
PGRP=""
"grep -i "$4" /etc/group | cut -f 1 -d ':'" | getline PGRP;
"echo "$5" | cut -f 1 -d ','" | getline RNAME;
"echo "$5" | cut -f 3 -d ','" | getline RNUM;
"/usr/bin/groups -g " $1 | getline GROUP;
print $1"\t\t" PGRP"\t" "\t" GROUP
print " ";
}'
else
echo "No user details found....Sorry. Try again..."
fi


exit 0;

I can't figure out what's wrong
Need fresh eyes on it can somebody help
runs find with desirable output and sneezes in the middle and than continues

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,
I get the same error. Check your passwd file if there is any fields with "-" in. grep interpret it as an option.

[Constantine_1]

Hi Leif
I got them ..but I need to keep them ...what can I do to ignore them

Thanks

[Umapathy S]

Constantine,
Check whether /etc/passwd contains entry for nobody with -2 etc.
It is causing the trouble.

HTH,
Umapathy

[H.Merijn Brand (procura · Accepted solution]

Force it to be a non-option:

grep -i -- "$4" ...

double minus is for most commands (as long as the coder follows the rules) the end of options marker

Enjoy, have FUN! H.Merijn

[A. Clay Stephenson]

Here is my best guess:

You are feeding this script an argument that contains a "-" and grep is then trying to interpret your ${1} as an option.

Change your grep -i "${1}" to
grep -i -- "${1}"

The -- instructs getopt() that the argument list is ended; anything beyond this is not to be evaluated as an option.

[Rodney Hills]

Using field $4 in the following line-

"grep -i "$4" /etc/group | cut -f 1 -d ':'" | getline PGRP;

Will get an error if $4 is a negative number (like user nobody) and it thinks you are passing another option.

If you code
grep -i -- "$4" ...

then grep will not try to treat $4 as an option if it begins with a "-"

HTH

-- Rod Hills

[Leif Halvarsson_2]

Hi,
A different method:

try
a=-2
grep \\$(echo $a) /etc/passwd

[Constantine_1]

Hi All
Thank you for your help