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Append spaces the rows to make it into a required fixed length file

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# 1  
Old 01-03-2013
Append spaces the rows to make it into a required fixed length file
I want to make a script to read row by row and find its length. If the length is less than my required length then i hav to append spaces to that paritucular row. Each row contains special characters, spaces, etc.

For example my file contains ,
Code:
12345    abcdef
234    abcde
89012  abcdefgh

Each row should be of length 15, if any row is less than 15 then for the remaining length spaces should be appended.
Last edited by Scrutinizer; 01-03-2013 at 07:27 AM.. Reason: code tags
# 2  
Old 01-03-2013
Hey,

Welcome to The UNIX and Linux Forums,

Please use code tags for data samples and codes. code tag button look like Image

You should use printf to adjust the length of each lines.

Try something like this,

Code:
awk -v l="15" '{s="%-"l"s\n";printf(s,$0);}' input_file

Cheers,
RangaSmilie
This User Gave Thanks to rangarasan For This Post:
sathyaonnuix
# 3  
Old 01-03-2013
This works great; can you please explain how this works

Code:
# cat file
12345 abcdef
234 abcde
89012 abcdefgh


# awk -v l="15" '{s="%-"l"s\n";printf(s,$0);}' file > temp; cat temp > file


# awk '{ if (length($0) > max) max = length($0) }
END { print max }' file
15

Last edited by sathyaonnuix; 01-03-2013 at 05:57 AM..
# 4  
Old 01-03-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by sathyaonnuix
Ranga, the row count is not reaching 15, can you please take a look. Pls advise if I am missing something.

Code:
# cat file
12345 abcdef
234 abcde
89012 abcdefgh


# awk -v l="15" '{s="%-"l"s\n";printf(s,$0);}' file
12345 abcdef
234 abcde
89012 abcdefgh


# awk '{ if (length($0) > max) max = length($0) }
END { print max }' file
14

Please check the output of my command and not the input file.

Code:
# awk -v l="15" '{s="%-"l"s\n";printf(s,$0);}' file|awk '{print length($0);}'
15
15
15

Cheers,
RangaSmilie

---------- Post updated at 05:29 AM ---------- Previous update was at 04:58 AM ----------

sathyaonnuix,

We can adjust the colunm/row length by using the printf functions format specifier.

Code:
printf("%-20s",line); -> This will fill spaces when the field is lesser than 20 characters.

Cheers,
RangaSmilie
This User Gave Thanks to rangarasan For This Post:
sathyaonnuix
# 5  
Old 01-03-2013
Wow thats clear, thanks Ranga
# 6  
Old 01-03-2013
I need to pass the length and file name as parameters. Please help how to change the below code as per that,

Code:
 
awk -v l="15" '{s="%-"l"s\n";printf(s,$0);}' file > temp;

# 7  
Old 01-03-2013
You don't necessarily need to use awk, can be done with shell (bash, ksh) builtin printf:
Code:
$ FILE=file
$ LENGTH=15
$ while read LINE; do printf "%-"$LENGTH"s\n" "$LINE"; done <"$FILE"
12345 abcdef   
234 abcde      
89012 abcdefgh

Remove - sign in front of $LENGTH if you want it right justified.
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