String Manipulation
Many DCE administrative operations return information of some sort. For instance, the principal show operation returns information about a principal. Usually this information is in the form of a list as in the following example:
dcecp> principal show R_Parsons
{fullname {}}
{uid 15}
{uuid 0000000f-d6f9-21cd-8d00-0000c08adf56}
{alias no}
{quota
unlimited}
{groups users}
dcecp>
Although it's fairly easy for an administrator to scan a list and extract the necessary information from it, scripts operate in the dark, feeling their way through information. When scripts search for specific information, they usually ignore the notion of lists, operating instead on the collection of characters (called a string) that makes up a list. The DCE control program provides a set of commands to operate on strings, letting you construct, parse, compare, extract values from, and modify strings.
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Other String Handling Operations