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    what youre asking is impossible. Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 20:04
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    Why aren't your userids already alphanumeric? Do you have a mapping of user numbers to names? Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 22:21
  • Can you show the actual output of "ls -al" and a example of what's in /etc/passwd? Are your usernames numerical? If so, you'll likely have to create something custom to do that. Commented Oct 12, 2015 at 22:59
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    @roaima I work at a big place and the user accounts are handled by a different group who decided on numbers for whatever reason. I have a mapping for my team's numbers-to-names that I keep at my desk. It would just be a lot more efficient if I could automate it. Commented Oct 13, 2015 at 16:20