On 3/24/2010 3:48 AM, Roland RoLaNd wrote: > > hello, > > i've just wrote the following : > > more ./*.csv | grep -i XXX | echo "Dear XXX, This email is for informative purposes. Your total number of hours for the week of `date` is: `cut -d, -f2` hours Kindly note that the average weekly working hours is : 40." | /usr/sbin/sendEmail -t mail at domain.com -u Test email- disregard it -f othermail at subdomain.com -s smtp.domain.com:25 > > this looks in a csv file that exists in the same directory for XX and outputs the field right next to it as you notice from : `cut -d, -f2` > > It's working pretty fine for just one user, but i have to do the same for 432 person. and its obviously not as professional as it should be due to the following reasons: > > 1. i have to fill the name for each person in place of XXX as well as their MAIL at domain.com You need to provide more information here. Does each XXX have its own directory (like /home/user)? cd /home for USER in * do ... done Or are the names all in one csv file in another field you can find on the same line as the hours? while read LINE do USER=`cut -d, -f<name_field_number> $LINE` ... done <file.csv > 2. the date command gives the hour as well which is a bit annoying date can give about any format you want with a +format option. > can anyone guide me on how to proceed? > as you notice im a bit of a newbie with bash and im trying my best to improve my one liners/scripts Just remember the perl can do everything the shell can do and much more, so if you run into trouble you can always switch to perl. -- Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com