Adding user through script

[kidtech]

hey guys,

I am new to the Linux world and am trying to create the following script...
I want to create an interactive script that prompts the user for the following:

user name

user home directory

user login shell

user comment

the script then needs to read those variables that are entered by the user and actually create the user account. and of course, would like the script to display what user account was just created so that i know in fact the script worked successful.

any help would be appreciated - thanks.

[nmset]

Only root can create a user, and the guy logged in as root is expected to be skillful with the

useradd

man useradd

utility. It does all that you want to do by specifying options in a command line. There is no real need to write a scipt for keyboard input, things wil just get overloaded.

If you really want to get user input at the prompt, use the read command, it captures a keyboard input and assign it to a variable that you specify.

read -p "Be explicit : " INPUT1

Here, the user is prompted with "Be explicit : ", what he types in is assigned to INPUT1 variable.

Be aware that a user created by the useradd command does not have login privileges (unless you specify the -p option). You must next assign him a password with the passwd command.

[drl]

Hi, kidtech.

Welcome to the forum.

Some distributions of Linux may make life easier for this task. For example, on Debian:

DESCRIPTION
       adduser  and  addgroup  add users and groups to the system according to
       command    line    options    and    configuration    information    in
       /etc/adduser.conf.   They  are  friendlier  front ends to the low level
       tools like useradd, groupadd and usermod programs, by default  choosing
       Debian  policy conformant UID and GID values, creating a home directory
       with skeletal configuration, running a custom script,  and  other  fea-
       tures.

-- excerpt from man adduser, q.v.

Good luck ... cheers, drl