ldif(4ldap)

ldif -- LDAP Data Interchange Format

Description

The LDAP Data Interchange Format (LDIF) is used to represent LDAP entries in text form. The ldif2ldbm(1Mldap) tools can be used to convert from LDIF format to the LDBM format used by slapd(1Mldap). The ldbmcat(1Mldap) tool can be used to do the reverse conversion. See The SLAPD and SLURPD Administrator's Guide for more information on this format and the conversion tools.

The basic form of an LDIF entry is as follows:

   [id] 
   dn: distinguished name 
   attrtype: attrvalue 
   attrtype: attrvalue 
   ...

where id is the optional entry ID (a positive decimal number). Normally, you would not supply the id, allowing the database creation tools to do that for you. The ldbmcat program, however, produces an LDIF format that includes id so that new indexes created will be consistent with the existing database. A line may be continued by starting the next line with a single space or tab character. For example:

   dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen, o=University of Michi 
    gan, c=US

Multiple attribute values are specified on separate lines, for example:

   cn: Barbara J Jensen 
   cn: Babs Jensen

If an attrvalue 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. For example, the value `` begins with a space'' would be encoded like the following:

   cn:: IGJlZ2lucyB3aXRoIGEgc3BhY2U=

Multiple entries within the same LDIF file are separated by blank lines.

Examples

Here is an example of an LDIF file containing three entries.

dn: cn=Barbara J Jensen, o=University of Michi gan, c=US cn: Barbara J Jensen cn: Babs Jensen objectclass: person sn: Jensen

dn: cn=Bjorn J Jensen, o=University of Michi gan, c=US cn: Bjorn J Jensen cn: Bjorn Jensen objectclass: person sn: Jensen

dn: cn=Jennifer J Jensen, o=University of Michi gan, c=US cn: Jennifer J Jensen cn: Jennifer Jensen objectclass: person sn: Jensen jpegPhoto:: /9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAAAAAQABAAD/2wBDABALD A4MChAODQ4SERATGCgaGBYWGDEjJR0oOjM9PDkzODdASFxOQ ERXRTc4UG1RV19iZ2hnPk1xeXBkeFxlZ2P/2wBDARESEhgVG ...

Notice that the jpegPhoto in Jennifer Jensen's entry is encoded using base 64.

References

Intro(3ldap), ldbmcat(1Mldap), ldif2ldbm(1Mldap), slapd(1Mldap)

The SLAPD and SLURPD Administrator's Guide