Sample script to set the computer name according to my 2024 MacAD.UK presentation: https://scriptingosx.com/macaduk2024

setComputerName.sh

#!/bin/bash

export PATH=/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin

####################################################################################################
#      License information
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####################################################################################################
#
# Set Computer Name
#
# Version: 1.2
# Written by: Armin Briegel | Consulting Engineer | Jamf
#
# DESCRIPTION
# This script will assemble a computer name from a prefix and a certain number of digits
# from the end of the serial number or hardware UUID and then set the computer name.
#
# There are different approaches for each part (prefix and identifier) in the code. You
# can uncomment the sections you want to use, and delete or comment the parts you do not 
# need.
# 
# Note: this script uses `awk` to parse the output of `system_profiler` for backwards 
# compatibility with macOS Monterey and higher, you can (and probably should) replace 
# the `awk` calls with `plutil`:
#
# model family: 
# family=$(system_profiler -xml SPHardwareDataType | plutil -extract '0._items.0.machine_name' raw -)
#
# serial number:
# identifier=$(system_profiler -xml SPHardwareDataType | plutil -extract '0._items.0.serial_number' raw -)
# 
# hardware UUID:
# identifier=$(system_profiler -xml SPHardwareDataType | plutil -extract '0._items.0.platform_UUID' raw -)
# 
####################################################################################################

# name is constructed from prefix and the last digits of the identifier

# constant prefix
# prefix="Mac"

# get model family from system_profiler
family=$(system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk -F': ' '/Model Name/ {print $NF}')

# different prefix for desktop vs laptop
if [[ ${family} == *MacBook* ]]; then
    # laptop
    prefix="MacBook"
else
    # desktop
    prefix="Mac"
fi

# use family as prefix (clean out whitespace)
# prefix=$(tr -d '[:space:]' <<< "${family}")


# use hardwareUUID as identifier
# identifier=$(system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk '/Hardware UUID/ {print $NF}')

# use serial number as identifier
identifier=$(system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk '/Serial Number/ {print $NF}')

# use n digits of the identifier
# depending on your fleet size, 4-6 digits are sensible values
numDigits=5

# get trailing digits (works best with UUID)
# offset=$((${#identifier} - numDigits))

# get center digits (works best with pre-2021 serial numbers)
offset=$(( (${#identifier} - numDigits) / 2 ))

digits=${identifier:${offset}:${numDigits}}

# verify we actually got the right number of digits
if [[ ${#digits} -ne ${numDigits} ]]; then
    echo "something went wrong parsing the identifier, $identifier, $digits"
    exit 2
fi


# assemble the name
name="${prefix}-${digits}"

# clean out special chars for hostnames
hname=$(tr -d "[:blank:]'&()*%$\"\\\/~?!<>[]{}=+:;,.|^#@" <<< "${name}")

# check if running as root
if [[ $EUID -ne 0 ]]; then
    echo "this script needs to run as root"
    echo "cannot set computer name to ${name} (${hname})"
    exit 3
fi

if [[ "$name" != "" ]]; then
    echo "Setting Computer name to ${name}"
    
    jamf_binary="/usr/local/bin/jamf"
    if [[ -x "${jamf_binary}" ]]; then
        "${jamf_binary}" setComputerName -name "${name}"
        "${jamf_binary}" recon
    else
        scutil --set ComputerName "${name}"
        scutil --set HostName "${hname}"
        scutil --set LocalHostName "${hname}"
    fi
else
    echo "could not determine computer name, exiting"
    exit 4
fi