Using the NFS automounter

Using substitutions

If you have a map with a lot of subdirectories specified, as in the following indirect map, consider using string substitutions:

#key mount-options location

john willow:/home/willow:john mary willow:/home/willow:mary joe willow:/home/willow:joe able pine:/export/home:able baker peach:/export/home:baker [. . .]

The ampersand character (``&'') can be used to substitute the key wherever it appears. Using the ampersand, the previous map would look like this:

#key mount-options location

john willow:/home/willow:& mary willow:/home/willow:& joe willow:/home/willow:& able pine:/export/home:& baker peach:/export/home:& [. . .]

If the name of the server is the same as the key itself, for instance:

#key mount-options location

willow willow:/home/willow peach peach:/home/peach pine pine:/home/pine oak oak:/home/oak poplar poplar:/home/poplar [. . .]

the use of the ampersand would result in:

#key mount-options location

willow &:/home/& peach &:/home/& pine &:/home/& oak &:/home/& poplar &:/home/& [. . .]

If all entries in a map have the same format, you can use the catch-all substitute character, the asterisk (``

'');

#key mount-options location

oak &:/export/& poplar &:/export/& &:/home/&

The asterisk catch-all key (

) matches on everything that reaches this point in the map. Once the automounter reads the catch-all key, it does not continue to read the map.