Extract

The variables defined in the Extract section define the rules for decomposing input information into smaller units of information, called tokens, that can be directly mapped onto LDAP attributes, or that require simple processing in order to be mapped onto LDAP attributes.

The syntax of a variable that defines a decomposition into tokens is:

VARIABLE => $element1 separator $element2 [separator $elementn...|| ...]

The separator between tokens is the separator expected in the input information. It could be white space, a comma, a colon or any other character. However, one space in the line definition will match any number of spaces or tabs in the actual input information. You can specify several alternatives for the decomposition, by using two pipe symbols (||) to introduce each alternative rule.

The conversion process examines the rules in the order in which they are specified, and applies the first one that matches the information it was given in input.

For example, in nis.mapping, the following definition extracts tokens from a line in the bootparams file:

LINE =>$ipHostNameT $parametersT

The hosts file provides a slightly more complex example:

LINE =>$dummy $ipHostNumberT $ipHostNameT $allIpHostAliasesT*#$descriptionT*||\
	        $dummy $ipHostNumberT $ipHostNameT $allIpHostAliasesT||\
	        $dummy $ipHostNumberT $ipHostNameT

In these examples, the tokens parametersT and allIpHostAliasesT require further processing before they can be mapped onto LDAP attributes. The processing required is defined in the Condense section.