When expanding the /etc/passwd GECOS field to get the user's full name, ampersand is not populated with username.
Freebsd for example put "User &" by default when user doesnt specify real full name.
This is a big issue when several users have this same name, there is only one entry to choose.
Edit : found it also explained in the master.passwd man page of OpenBSD :
The full name may contain an ampersand (‘&’), which will be replaced by the capitalized login name when the gecos field is displayed or used by various programs such as finger(1), sendmail(8), etc.
When expanding the /etc/passwd GECOS field to get the user's full name, ampersand is not populated with username.
Freebsd for example put "User &" by default when user doesnt specify real full name. This is a big issue when several users have this same name, there is only one entry to choose.
Edit : found it also explained in the master.passwd man page of OpenBSD : The full name may contain an ampersand (‘&’), which will be replaced by the capitalized login name when the gecos field is displayed or used by various programs such as finger(1), sendmail(8), etc.