Removing blank lines from a file


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Removing blank lines from a file
# 1  
Old 12-18-2012
Tools Removing blank lines from a file

Hi All,

How do i remove continuos blank lines from a file.

I have a file with data:

Code:
 
abc;
def;
ghi;
 
 
jkl;
mno;
pqr;

In the above file, there are two blank lines. I want to remove, one out of them.

My output should look like:
Code:
abc;
def;
ghi;
 
jkl;
mno;
pqr;

With the below command, all the blank lines are getting deleted. I don't want that. I have to remove one out of two blanks.
Code:
 
 
sed -i '/^$/d' my_file

# 2  
Old 12-18-2012
Try like...
Code:
  awk 'NF>0' test.txt

# 3  
Old 12-18-2012
The above command is removing all the blank lines. But i want to keep only one blank line if more than one blank lines avail. I want to remove all other blank lines.

---------- Post updated at 06:22 PM ---------- Previous update was at 06:17 PM ----------

Code:
awk '/^$/{ if (! blank++) print; next } { blank=0; print }' my_file

or
Code:
 
awk 'NR==1 || NF || prvNF {print} {prvNF=NF}' my_file

Any of the above codes are working fine for me..
Thank you all!!!!!!!
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Shell Programming and Scripting

To check Blank Lines, Blank Records and Junk Characters in a File

Hi All Need Help I have a file with the below format (ABC.TXT) : ®¿¿ABCDHEJJSJJ|XCBJSKK01|M|7348974982790 HDFLJDKJSKJ|KJALKSD02|M|7378439274898 KJHSAJKHHJJ|LJDSAJKK03|F|9898982039999 (cont......) I need to write a script where it will check for : blank lines (between rows,before... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: chatwithsaurav
6 Replies

2. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Delete blank spaces and blank lines in a file

Hi Gurus, Somebody can say me how to delete blank spaces and blank lines in a file unix, please. Thank you for advanced. (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: systemoper
10 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

Removing blank lines

Hi, my input file is like this I want to remove the blank line. "/home/rit/sandbox/garuda/data/test/woman/T_RITK_F0008_ML_100080039.lab" r a N e l a k sh a m . "/home/rit/sandbox/garuda/data/test/woman/T_RITK_F0008_ML_100070453.lab" a v a s (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: sreejithalokkan
4 Replies

4. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Removing blank lines not working

In my bash script I want to echo lines in a file and ensure no blank lines are echoed:for i in $(cat txt) do echo $i | sed 's/|/ /g;s/ SEARCHTERM$//g;s/ /\r\n/g;s/^$/d' done Keep in mind this is a fragment so ignore the fact that the for loop is not closed. When I add the "s/^$/d' per... (12 Replies)
Discussion started by: MaindotC
12 Replies

5. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Removing blank lines in a file

Hi I have a text file that has blank lines at different places. How to remove all the blank lines in a file? Thanks Ashok (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: ashok.k
3 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

PERL: removing blank lines from multiple files

Hi Guru's , I have a whole bunch of files in /var/tmp that i need to strip any blank lines from, so ive written the following script to identify the lines (which works perfectly).. but i wanted to know, how can I actually strip the identified lines from the actual source files ?? my... (11 Replies)
Discussion started by: hcclnoodles
11 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

Removing blank lines from comma seperated and space seperated file.

Hi, I want to remove empty/blank lines from comma seperated and space seperated files Thanks all for help (11 Replies)
Discussion started by: pinnacle
11 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

removing duplicate blank lines

Hi, how to remove the blank lines from the file only If we have more than one blank line. thanks rameez (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: rameezrajas
8 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

Removing Blank Lines

Hi i have the below lines from a file 7538 PRGRP450800PERSONAL SOAP AND BATH ADDITIV 7036 PRGRP450800PERSONAL SOAP AND BATH ADDITIV 7036 PRGRP450800PERSONAL SOAP AND BATH ADDITIV 7036... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: dhanamurthy
3 Replies

10. Shell Programming and Scripting

Removing blank spaces from a file?

Guys, I need some help... how can I remove the blank spaces between the lines below? (between the date and the hour fields) 21/05/07 00:05:00 99 21/05/07 00:10:01 99 21/05/07 00:15:00 99 21/05/07 00:20:00 99 21/05/07 00:25:00 99 I want to make the file... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: dfs
4 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question