Python interface to the POSIX getent family of commands (getpwent, getgrent, getnetent, etc.)

Here a few examples.

Load the interface:

>>> import getent

Doing a passwd lookup:

>>> print dict(getent.passwd('root'))
{'dir': '/root',
 'gecos': 'root',
 'gid': 0,
 'name': 'root',
 'password': 'x',
 'shell': '/bin/bash',
 'uid': 0}

Doing a group lookup:

>>> print dict(getent.group('root'))
{'gid': 0, 'members': [], 'name': 'root', 'password': 'x'}