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Old 08-01-2008
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joeyg joeyg is offline Forum Staff  
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Wink Guess - fixed record file without record delimiters
I see this often, where the file is fixed record length. You need to find the pattern of data and reformat accordingly.

For instance, the following is three records; each record comprising 3 datafields; each datafield of five characters.


Code:
Joe  unix 12   Prvx ps   905  era  dos  1015

Once you know the data layout - the overall record length - you can begin the process of converting the file into something you might be able to process easier.

One function I often use when confronted by this is to:


Code:
> cat myfile | od -An -t dC -w10 | more

With a handy ASCII chart, you can probably read along the data file to see what is happening.