ldbedit - Edit LDB databases using your preferred editor
Contents
Description
ldbedit is a utility that allows you to edit LDB entries (in tdb files, sqlite files or LDAP servers)
using your preferred editor. ldbedit generates an LDIF file based on your query, allows you to edit the
LDIF, and then merges that LDIF back into the LDB backend.
Environment
LDB_URL
LDB URL to connect to. This can be overridden by using the -H command-line option.)
VISUAL and EDITOR
Environment variables used to determine what editor to use. VISUAL takes precedence over EDITOR, and
both are overridden by the -e command-line option.
Name
ldbedit - Edit LDB databases using your preferred editor
Notes
1. Andrew Tridgell
https://www.samba.org/~tridge/
LDB 1.1 06/19/2025 LDBEDIT(1)
Options
-?, --help
Show list of available options, and a phrase describing what that option does.
--usage
Show list of available options. This is similar to the help option, however it does not provide any
description, and is hence shorter.
-H <ldb-url>
LDB URL to connect to. For a tdb database, this will be of the form tdb://filename. For a LDAP
connection over unix domain sockets, this will be of the form ldapi://socket. For a (potentially
remote) LDAP connection over TCP, this will be of the form ldap://hostname. For an SQLite database,
this will be of the form sqlite://filename.
-s one|sub|base
Search scope to use. One-level, subtree or base.
-a, -all
Edit all records. This allows you to apply the same change to a number of records at once. You
probably want to combine this with an expression of the form "objectclass=*".
-e editor, --editor editor
Specify the editor that should be used (overrides the VISUAL and EDITOR environment variables). If
this option is not used, and neither VISUAL nor EDITOR environment variables are set, then the vi
editor will be used.
-b basedn
Specify Base Distinguished Name to use.
-v, --verbose
Make ldbedit more verbose about the operations that are being performed. Without this option, ldbedit
will only provide a summary change line.
See Also
ldb(3), ldbmodify(1), ldbdel(1), ldif(5), vi(1)
Synopsis
ldbedit [-?] [--usage] [-s base|one|sub] [-b basedn] [-a] [-e editor] [-H LDB-URL] [expression]
[attributes...]
Version
This man page is correct for version 1.1 of LDB.
