Alright so I am a computer science student. Very amature programmer. Just now started learning Perl. I have a programming assignment for class and would love someone to give me a few hints on how to get started. At this point I am completely lost. Here is the parameters of the assignment word for word from the teacher.

Create a program called get_name.pl and save it at UISACAD5 server in a folder named perlproject. This program reads the passwd.bak file at /etc directory in UISACAD5 server, queries a username and returns the home directory and default shell used. The relevant fields are field number five and number six of the /etc/passwd.bak. Start counting the first field or column as zero, then one, etc. The fields are separated by a colon.

The program can be ran by calling the program name and followed by one argument or parameter, that is, enter the program name and the username (UIS account) in the command line. For example,
$get_name.pl username

The screen output would be:
Home directory: /export/home/username
Shell used : /bin/bash

Alright, I'm an idiot and was typing in password.bak instead of passwd.bak
So I definitely have access to the file as I just discovered. Now if anybody could give me a hint as to how to get started on this, I'd be very much in your debt.

In reply to Perl Project: Text Search by Sharp

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