chfn(1)chfn(1)NAMEchfn - change user information used by finger command
SYNOPSIS
[login-name]
[login-name]
[login-name]
[login-name]
DESCRIPTION
The command changes the user information that is stored in the reposi‐
tory for the current logged-in user or for the user specified by login-
name (see passwd(1)).
The information is organized as four comma-separated subfields within
the reserved (5th) field of the password file entry. It consists of
the user's full name, location code, office phone number, and home
phone number, in that order. This information is used by the command
and other programs (see finger(1)).
prompts you for each subfield. The prompt includes a default value,
which is enclosed in brackets. Accept the default value by pressing
the Return key. To enter a blank subfield, type the word
The DCE repository is only available if Integrated Login has been con‐
figured; see auth.adm(1M). If Integrated Login has been configured,
other considerations apply. A user with appropriate DCE privileges is
capable of modifying a user's (gecos) information; this is not depen‐
dent upon superuser privileges.
If the repository is not specified (as in [login-name]), the informa‐
tion is changed in the file only.
Run after running to make sure the information was processed correctly.
Notes
The command is a hard link to the command. When is executed, actually
the command gets executed with appropriate arguments to change the user
gecos information in the repository specified in the command line. If
no repository is specified, the gecos information is changed in the
file.
Arguments
login-name A login name of a user.
Options
The following option is recognized:
Specify the repository to which the operation is to be applied.
Supported repositories include and
Subfield Values
Up to 1022 printing characters.
The command and other utilities expand an
found anywhere in this subfield by substi‐
tuting the login name for it and shifting
the first letter of the login name to upper‐
case. does not alter the input
Up to 1022 printing characters.
Up to 25 printing characters.
inserts appropriate hyphens if the value is
all digits.
Up to 25 printing characters.
inserts appropriate hyphens if the value is
all digits.
Security Restrictions
You must have appropriate privileges to use the optional login-name
argument to change another user's information.
EXAMPLES
The following is a sample run. The user's input is shown in regular
type.
WARNINGS
The encoding of office and extension information is installation-depen‐
dent.
For historical reasons, the user's name, etc., are stored in the file.
This is an inappropriate place to store the information.
Because two or more users may try to write the file at the same time, a
synchronization method was developed. prints a message that the file
is busy. When this occurs, sleeps for a short time, then tries to
write to the file again.
AUTHOR
was developed by the University of California, Berkeley.
FILESSEE ALSOchsh(1), finger(1), passwd(1), passwd(4).
chfn(1)