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Full Discussion: Initials of a name
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Initials of a name Post 302590154 by agama on Saturday 14th of January 2012 11:23:18 AM
Old 01-14-2012
It would be nice to know what context you are trying to do this in. As has been suggested, if you have a file of first and last names, just run a sed across the file. However, if you have a string, or two tokens, as a part of a loop in a programme, then the answer will be different. As an example, if you are working in ksh or bash this is much more efficient than running sed for each individual string:

Code:
full_name="Eric Clapton"
initials="${full_name//[a-z]/}"
echo "$full_name -> $initials"

If you need E.C. or E. C. you can do something like this:

Code:
echo "${initials/ /.}."
echo "${initials/ /. }."

---------- Post updated at 11:23 ---------- Previous update was at 11:16 ----------

Crossed posts with you...

Again, if you're using a Ksh like shell language, then you could just echo out the first characters like this:

Code:
full_name="Eric Clapton"
last="${full_name#* }"
echo  "${full_name:0:1} ${last:0:1}"

 

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LEARN ABOUT DEBIAN

minc_modify_header

MINC_MODIFY_HEADER(1)						 MINC User's Guide					     MINC_MODIFY_HEADER(1)

NAME

       minc_modify_header - modify the attributes in the header of a minc file

SYNOPSIS

       minc_modify_header [<options>] <file>.mnc

DESCRIPTION

       Minc_modify_header allows the modification, insertion or deletion of attributes in a minc file. If possible, the file is modified in place,
       without copying the data. This will happen when inserting (modifying) an attribute that already exists and that	ends  up  being  the  same
       length  or shorter in the new file. If an attribute is deleted or lengthened, then a complete copy of the data is made, resulting in a com-
       pletely new file that replaces the original.

       If the file is compressed, then it is first decompressed into a file whose name is either the same as that of the original file up  to  the
       ".mnc"  extension  or  the same minus the compression extension (".bz", ".bz2", ".gz", ".Z", ".z" or ".zip").  The new file will not be re-
       compressed.

       Care is taken to completely overwrite any existing attribute when inserting a new attribute so that information is guaranteed to be removed
       from the file.

OPTIONS

       Note that options can be specified in abbreviated form (as long as they are unique) and can be given anywhere on the command line.

       -sinsert var:attr=value
	      Insert  a  string attribute into the header. If the attribute does not exist or the new string is longer than the existing one, then
	      all data in the file will be copied.

       -sappend var:attr=value
	      Similar to -sinsert, but appends the string to the attribute's value.  If the attribute already exists it must be of string type.

       -dinsert var:attr=value(,...)
	      Insert a double precision attribute into the header. If the attribute does not exist or the new attribute is longer than the  exist-
	      ing one, then all data in the file will be copied. A comma-separated array of values can be specified.

       -dappend var:attr=value(,...)
	      Similar  to  -dinsert, but appends the list of double precision values to the attribute's value.	If the attribute already exists it
	      must be of double precision type.

       -delete var:attr
	      Delete an attribute from the header. USE OF THIS OPTION WILL FORCE A COMPLETE COPY OF ALL DATA TO BE  MADE.  Use	-sinsert  with	an
	      empty string to delete information without copying data (the attribute will continue to exist).

       -help  Print summary of command-line options and exit.

       -version
	      Print the program's version number and exit.

EXAMPLES
:
       To replace the patient name with an identifier string:

	      minc_modify_header file.mnc -sinsert 'patient:full_name=C02-F0023'

       To delete the patient name completely (forcing a copy of all data):

	      minc_modify_header file.mnc -delete 'patient:full_name'

       To  hide the patient name without copying data, assuming that we know that the attribute exists (the attribute will remain in the file, but
       it will be empty):

	      minc_modify_header file.mnc -sinsert 'patient:full_name='

AUTHOR

       Peter Neelin

COPYRIGHTS

       Copyright (C) 1995 by Peter Neelin

							   $Date: 2004-05-25 21:33:11 $ 				     MINC_MODIFY_HEADER(1)
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