From: Lisa Kachold > createNewSambaAllow(){ > # Copy to backup the config: > cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf-$_now > # stuff the line we need to append to into a variable called $oldline > # this is supposed to look like this "valid users = unique thing1 thing2 thing3 alice" > oldline = grep unique /etc/samba/smb.conf* > # delete the old line in the smb.conf* > sed '/unique/d' /etc/samba/smb.conf >>/etc/samba/smb.conf > # dump the old line and the new user into the bottom of smb.conf > echo $oldline && echo $username >> /etc/samba/smb.conf > # restart samba > /etc/init.d/samba restart > echo "Samba Config Added and Daemon restarted" > } [snip] > createNewSambaAllow $username [more snip] What I *think* you want this thing to do is to replace the line containing "unique" with a new line that has " $username" appended to it. There are many ways to do this. The function above won't work, or at least it didn't when I tested it. This, OTOH: createNewSambaAllow(){ # Copy to backup the config: cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf-$_now # stuff the line we need to append to into a variable called $oldline # this is supposed to look like this "valid users = unique thing1 thing2 thing3 alice" old=`grep unique /etc/samba/smb.conf` # delete the old line in the smb.conf sed "/unique/d" /etc/samba/smb.conf > temp.txt # dump the old line and the new user into the bottom of smb.conf old=`echo $old | sed -e "s/$/ $1/"` echo $old >> temp.txt mv -f temp.txt /etc/samba/smb.conf # restart samba #/etc/init.d/samba restart echo "Samba Config Added and Daemon restarted" } # end function This appears to do what you want while retaining the structure, but using sed in place should also work and make the function collapse into a single line: sed -e "s/\(.*valid users.*\)/\1 $username/" -i /etc/samba/smb.conf ...which would probably be a win. This might've been easier to do in Perl, but then most things are :-) -- Matt G / Dances With Crows The Crow202 Blog: http://crow202.org/wordpress/ There is no Darkness in Eternity/But only Light too dim for us to see --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.phxlinux.org To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss