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.lf 1 stdin .TH LDIF 5 "2018/03/22" "OpenLDAP 2.4.46" .\" $OpenLDAP$ .\" Copyright 1998-2018 The OpenLDAP Foundation All Rights Reserved. .\" Copying restrictions apply. See COPYRIGHT/LICENSE. .SH NAME ldif \- LDAP Data Interchange Format .SH DESCRIPTION The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) is used to represent LDAP entries and change records in text form. LDAP tools, such as .BR ldapadd (1) and .BR ldapsearch (1), read and write LDIF entry records. .BR ldapmodify (1) reads LDIF change records. .LP This manual page provides a basic description of LDIF. A formal specification of LDIF is published in RFC 2849. .SH ENTRY RECORDS .LP LDIF entry records are used to represent directory entries. The basic form of an entry record is: .LP .nf .ft tt dn: <distinguished name> <attrdesc>: <attrvalue> <attrdesc>: <attrvalue> <attrdesc>:: <base64-encoded-value> <attrdesc>:< <URL> ... .ft .fi .LP The value may be specified as UTF-8 text or as base64 encoded data, or a URI may be provided to the location of the attribute value. .LP A line may be continued by starting the next line with a single space or tab, e.g., .LP .nf .ft tt dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,dc=exam ple,dc=com .ft .fi .LP Lines beginning with a sharp sign ('#') are ignored. .LP Multiple attribute values are specified on separate lines, e.g., .LP .nf .ft tt cn: Barbara J Jensen cn: Babs Jensen .ft .fi .LP If an value contains a non-printing character, or begins with a space or a colon ':', the <attrtype> is followed by a double colon and the value is encoded in base 64 notation. e.g., the value " begins with a space" would be encoded like this: .LP .nf .ft tt cn:: IGJlZ2lucyB3aXRoIGEgc3BhY2U= .ft .fi .LP If the attribute value is located in a file, the <attrtype> is followed by a ':<' and a file: URI. e.g., the value contained in the file /tmp/value would be listed like this: .LP .nf .ft tt cn:< file:///tmp/value .ft .fi Other URI schemes (ftp,http) may be supported as well. .LP Multiple entries within the same LDIF file are separated by blank lines. .SH ENTRY RECORD EXAMPLE Here is an example of an LDIF file containing three entries. .LP .nf .ft tt dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com cn: Barbara J Jensen cn: Babs Jensen objectclass: person description:< file:///tmp/babs sn: Jensen dn: cn=Bjorn J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com cn: Bjorn J Jensen cn: Bjorn Jensen objectclass: person sn: Jensen dn: cn=Jennifer J Jensen,dc=example,dc=com cn: Jennifer J Jensen cn: Jennifer Jensen objectclass: person sn: Jensen jpegPhoto:: /9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAAAAAQABAAD/2wBDABALD A4MChAODQ4SERATGCgaGBYWGDEjJR0oOjM9PDkzODdASFxOQ ERXRTc4UG1RV19iZ2hnPk1xeXBkeFxlZ2P/2wBDARESEhgVG ... .ft .fi .LP Note that the description in Barbara Jensen's entry is read from file:///tmp/babs and the jpegPhoto in Jennifer Jensen's entry is encoded using base 64. .SH CHANGE RECORDS LDIF change records are used to represent directory change requests. Each change record starts with line indicating the distinguished name of the entry being changed: .LP .nf dn: <distinguishedname> .fi .LP .nf changetype: <[modify|add|delete|modrdn]> .fi .LP Finally, the change information itself is given, the format of which depends on what kind of change was specified above. For a \fIchangetype\fP of \fImodify\fP, the format is one or more of the following: .LP .nf add: <attributetype> <attrdesc>: <value1> <attrdesc>: <value2> ... \- .fi .LP Or, for a replace modification: .LP .nf replace: <attributetype> <attrdesc>: <value1> <attrdesc>: <value2> ... \- .fi .LP If no \fIattributetype\fP lines are given to replace, the entire attribute is to be deleted (if present). .LP Or, for a delete modification: .LP .nf delete: <attributetype> <attrdesc>: <value1> <attrdesc>: <value2> ... \- .fi .LP If no \fIattributetype\fP lines are given to delete, the entire attribute is to be deleted. .LP For a \fIchangetype\fP of \fIadd\fP, the format is: .LP .nf <attrdesc1>: <value1> <attrdesc1>: <value2> ... <attrdescN>: <value1> <attrdescN>: <value2> .fi .LP For a \fIchangetype\fP of \fImodrdn\fP or \fImoddn\fP, the format is: .LP .nf newrdn: <newrdn> deleteoldrdn: 0 | 1 newsuperior: <DN> .fi .LP where a value of 1 for deleteoldrdn means to delete the values forming the old rdn from the entry, and a value of 0 means to leave the values as non-distinguished attributes in the entry. The newsuperior line is optional and, if present, specifies the new superior to move the entry to. .LP For a \fIchangetype\fP of \fIdelete\fP, no additional information is needed in the record. .LP Note that attribute values may be presented using base64 or in files as described for entry records. Lines in change records may be continued in the manner described for entry records as well. .SH CHANGE RECORD EXAMPLE The following sample LDIF file contains a change record of each type of change. .LP .nf dn: cn=Babs Jensen,dc=example,dc=com changetype: add objectclass: person objectclass: extensibleObject cn: babs cn: babs jensen sn: jensen dn: cn=Babs Jensen,dc=example,dc=com changetype: modify add: givenName givenName: Barbara givenName: babs \- replace: description description: the fabulous babs \- delete: sn sn: jensen \- dn: cn=Babs Jensen,dc=example,dc=com changetype: modrdn newrdn: cn=Barbara J Jensen deleteoldrdn: 0 newsuperior: ou=People,dc=example,dc=com dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen,ou=People,dc=example,dc=com changetype: delete .fi .SH INCLUDE STATEMENT The LDIF parser has been extended to support an .B include statement for referencing other LDIF files. The .B include statement must be separated from other records by a blank line. The referenced file is specified using a file: URI and all of its contents are incorporated as if they were part of the original LDIF file. As above, other URI schemes may be supported. For example: .LP .nf dn: dc=example,dc=com objectclass: domain dc: example include: file:///tmp/example.com.ldif dn: dc=example,dc=org objectclass: domain dc: example .fi This feature is not part of the LDIF specification in RFC 2849 but is expected to appear in a future revision of this spec. It is supported by the .BR ldapadd (1), .BR ldapmodify (1), and .BR slapadd (8) commands. .SH SEE ALSO .BR ldap (3), .BR ldapsearch (1), .BR ldapadd (1), .BR ldapmodify (1), .BR slapadd (8), .BR slapcat (8), .BR slapd\-ldif (5). .LP "LDAP Data Interchange Format," Good, G., RFC 2849. .SH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .lf 1 ./../Project .\" Shared Project Acknowledgement Text .B "OpenLDAP Software" is developed and maintained by The OpenLDAP Project <http://www.openldap.org/>. .B "OpenLDAP Software" is derived from the University of Michigan LDAP 3.3 Release. .lf 278 stdin
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