Remove new line character and add space to convert into fixed width file


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Remove new line character and add space to convert into fixed width file
# 1  
Old 01-08-2013
Remove new line character and add space to convert into fixed width file

I have a file with different record length. The file as to be converted into fixed length by appending spaces at the end of record. The length should be calculated based on the record with maximum length in the file.

If the length is less than the max length, the spaces should be appended before the new line character of that record.

Code:
 
Input File:
123
12345
1234
 
Output file:
123  
12345
1234 
 
Here the max record length is 5

# 2  
Old 01-08-2013
Code:
awk 'NR==FNR{if(length($0) > maxlen){maxlen=length($0)}next}
{printf "|%-"maxlen"s|\n",$0}' file1.txt file1.txt

Once you are confirm with o/p then remove "|" from the above code
This User Gave Thanks to pravin27 For This Post:
# 3  
Old 01-08-2013
This is another way of doing it with awk which works for me:
Code:
awk 'BEGIN{while((getline f<FILENAME)>0){if(length(f)>l)l=length(f)}}{printf "%-"l"s\n",$0}' file


Last edited by Subbeh; 01-08-2013 at 08:34 AM.. Reason: Edit: Never mind, pavin27's example works fine :)
This User Gave Thanks to Subbeh For This Post:
# 4  
Old 01-08-2013
The command is working fine but when i redirect the output to a file at the actual end of record i am able to see Control M(^M) charater.

Code:
 
awk 'NR==FNR{if(length($0) > maxlen){maxlen=length($0)}next}
{printf "%-"maxlen"s\n",$0}' file1.txt file1.txt > file2.txt
 
Output file: file2.txt
123^M<2space>
12345^M
1234^M<1space>

---------- Post updated at 06:16 PM ---------- Previous update was at 06:10 PM ----------

Code:
 
awk 'BEGIN{while((getline f<FILENAME)>0){if(length(f)>l)l=length(f)}}{printf "%-"l"s\n",$0}' file

The above code gives error as
Code:
expression for `<' redirection has null string value

# 5  
Old 01-08-2013
You need to use files that are in unix-format, not DOS-format. To convert:
Code:
tr -d '\r' < infile > outfile

This User Gave Thanks to Scrutinizer For This Post:
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

9 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Convert a fixed width file to a delimited file

Hi - this is a generic question .... is there any utility which can convert a fixed width file format to a delimited file (any given character delimited) ? (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: i4ismail
5 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

awk issue splitting a fixed-width file containing line feed in data

Hi Forum. I have the following script that splits a large fixed-width file into smaller multiple fixed-width files based on input segment type. The main command in the script is: awk -v search_col_pos=$search_col_pos -v search_str_len=$search_str_len -v segment_type="$segment_type"... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: pchang
8 Replies

3. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

How do I remove leading spaces in UNIX when count of space character is not fixed? Example below-

Script showStreamsGLIS$reg.$env.ksh gives me output as below- Job Stime Etime Status ExitCode GLIS-AS-S-EFL-LOCK-B ----- ----- OI 103313880/0 GLIS-ALL-Q-EOD-FX-UPDT-1730-B ----- ----- TE 0/0 GLIS-TK-S-BWSOD-B ... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: Tanu
8 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

How to add a character after the first word/space on each line?

Hi:) I have a large file ( couple thousand lines ) and I'm trying to add a character after the first word/space on each line. eg: First line of text Second line of text Third line of text Fourth line of text Fifth line of text I'd like to accomplish: First - line of text Second... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: martinsmith
8 Replies

5. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Replace the unexpected newline char with space in a Fixed width file

Input eg: Ouput Expected. The #rd line had the unexpted new line, which need to be replaced with space. I was planing to go with checking the length of each line using awk and if the length is less than the defeined limit, (12 in above case) will replace the newline with space. ... (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: deepakwins
5 Replies

6. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

convert # delimited text file to fixed width

Hello gurus, I have a file containing 5 columns delimited by '#' as shown in the example below: HRP1000-PLVAR#HRP1000-OTYPE#HRP1000-OBJID#HRP1000-BEGDA#HRP1000-ENDDA# 99991231#AU7129#000000000#1 PROCTER & GAMBLE# 99991231#TT4283#1000013883#21111 LAUNDRY# 99991231#TT4283#1000013884#21121 DISH... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: chumsky
3 Replies

7. HP-UX

How to remove new line character and append new line character in a file?

Hi Experts, I have data coming in 4 columns and there are new line characters \n in between the data. I need to remove the new line characters in the middle of the row and keep the \n character at the end of the line. File is comma (,) seperated. Eg: ID,Client ,SNo,Rank 37,Airtel \n... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: sasikari
8 Replies

8. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Remove duplicates based on a column in fixed width file

Hi, How to output the duplicate record to another file. We say the record is duplicate based on a column whose position is from 2 and its length is 11 characters. The file is a fixed width file. ex of Record: DTYU12333567opert tjhi kkklTRG9012 The data in bold is the key on which... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: Qwerty123
1 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

Appending string (charachters inside the line) to a fixed width file using awk or sed

Source File: abcdefghijklmnop01qrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnop02qrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnop03qrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnop04qrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnop05qrstuvwxyz Whatever characters are in 17-18 on each line of the file, it should be concatenated to the same line at the character number... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: tamahomekarasu
6 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question