There's a function -- getpwent, so I guess there hasn't been as much need for it. (besides, it's just a colon delim file, so most other parsing programs could do it).

I'd also like to point out that there is no 'name' field in a passwd file -- it's the gecos field, which contains a comma seperated list of optional comments, the first of which is typically the name. (which is why you get odd behavior when someone tries entering a name in 'last, first' format.) From perldoc -f getpwent :

The exact meaning of the $gcos field varies but it usually contains the real name of the user (as opposed to the login name) and other information pertaining to the user. Beware, however, that in many system users are able to change this information and therefore it cannot be trusted and therefore the $gcos is tainted (see perlsec). The $passwd and $shell, user's encrypted password and login shell, are also tainted, because of the same reason.

In reply to Re^2: printing passwd file by jhourcle
in thread printing passwd file by madmonster99

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