dbmedit(ADM)                    19 June 1992                    dbmedit(ADM)


 Name

    dbmedit - edit the MMDF database file

 Syntax

    /usr/bin/dbmedit [ -v ] [ -ddatabase ] [ cmd ... ]

 Description

    The dbmedit command lets you edit the dbm(S) database used by MMDF.  Use
    this command for quick and simple changes to the database or with careful
    use of setuid programs to make controlled changes on behalf of users.
    For example, a forwardmail command (that you create) might use dbmedit to
    change a user's entry in the dbm database after changing the mail for-
    warding alias file.

    The -v option may be used to get a verbose description of the program's
    activities.

    The -d option may be used to specify an alternate database.  The default
    is given by the tbldbm configuration variable or by the MDBM
    /usr/mmdf/mmdftailor variable.

    If no arguments are given to dbmedit, then the program goes into an
    interactive mode, and prompts the user for each command. Otherwise the
    arguments are taken as one command.

    Commands in dbmedit refer to keys, tables, and values.  Tables (see
    tables(F)) are hashed into the database using dbmbuild(ADM).  (Tables
    that refer to domain name servers are not part of the database.)  The
    keys appear on the left side of the tables and the values on the right
    side. In general, only the first occurence of a value for a given
    key/table pair is significant.  For example, the table entries:

       table1:
               <key1>: val1
               <key2>: val2

       table2:
               <key1>: val3
               <key1>: val4

    get hashed into the following database entries:

       <key1>  table1 val1
       <key1>  table2 val3
       <key1>  table2 val4
       <key2>  table1 val2

    (In the current implementation, the database is keyed on only the key,
    and table/value pairs are encoded in the data portion.  This is likely to
    change but will not affect this or any other program.)

    The command lines in interactive mode are parsed using the standard MMDF
    string-to-argument routines so the same quoting and escape conventions
    are used.  For example, if you want double-quotes or spaces in the value,
    they must be escaped with a backslash or the string must be quoted (for
    spaces).

    The commands are:

    print <key> [ table ]
              Print the value of the key/table pair.  If the table is omit-
              ted, then print the value of any table entry with this key.

    add <key> tablevalue
              Add a key/table entry with the given value.  In verbose mode, a
              warning message is printed if the given key/table pair already
              has a value in the database.

    delete <key> [ table [ value ]]
              Delete the values for the specified key.  If a table is speci-
              fied, delete only the values for the specified key/table pair.
              If a value is also specified, delete only entries for the pair
              with that value.  It is an error to try to delete something
              which does not appear in the database as specified.

    change <key> table [ oldvalue ] newvalue
              Change the value of the specified key/table pair to newvalue.
              If oldvalue is specified, change the entry matching that value.
              Otherwise, change the value of the first occurence or add a new
              key/table pair if none already exists.

    help      Give a brief summary of the commands

    quit      Exit the program.

    All commands may be shortened to their first character only.  If the
    wrong number of arguments is given to a command, a ``Usage:'' message is
    displayed.  This program may be used while MMDF processes are running.

    NOTE: All changes are made in real time; no temporary copy of the data-
    base is made while editing takes place.

 File


    $(tbldbm).{dir,pag}     the MMDF database


 See also

    dbmbuild(ADM), tables(F)

 Credit

    This utility was written by Phil Cockcroft.

    MMDF was developed at the University of Delaware and is used with permis-
    sion.