Putting a separator in file using awk/bash


 
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# 1  
Old 08-16-2013
Putting a separator in file using awk/bash

I have a file with the following content:
Code:
a-123-345-232
a-23343-4545-545
a-67676-45454-8787
a-129-8912-9824
b-564-78678-2322
b-5454-76767-8899
b-85554-124-152-29
c-34534-654543-323

(... and so on, actually these are pretty huge records)
Now, I want that the file should not be broken in to multiple files but instead, a delimiter, say "#"should be inserted after all lines with beginning with "a" end again after the lines starting with "b" end and so on...

for example,
Code:
a-123-345-232
a-23343-4545-545
a-67676-45454-8787
a-129-8912-9824
#
b-564-78678-2322
b-5454-76767-8899
b-85554-124-152-29
#
c-34534-654543-323

Thanks....

Last edited by Scrutinizer; 08-16-2013 at 07:24 AM.. Reason: code tags
# 2  
Old 08-16-2013
Try this awk-script

Code:
BEGIN {
    last=" ";
}

{
    if (last !~ /^a/ && $1 ~ /^a/) print "#";
    last = $1;
    print;
}

Code:
awk -f script.awk <input >output

# 3  
Old 08-16-2013
Here's another way using awk:

Code:
 awk -F- '{if (NR==1) {first=$1}} {if (first==$1) print $0; else {print "#"; print $0; first=$1}}' file.txt

This User Gave Thanks to mjf For This Post:
# 4  
Old 08-16-2013
Thank you so much hergp and mjf Smilie. It worked....
# 5  
Old 08-16-2013
Your solution is correct, mjf, thank you.

My solution prints the hash only at the change from not-a to a. I misread the OP. Sorry.
# 6  
Old 08-16-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by hergp
Your solution is correct, mjf, thank you.

My solution prints the hash only at the change from not-a to a. I misread the OP. Sorry.
Though, the solution of mjf worked and your's was printing a "#", once before the output, else verbatim the input, I appreciate your effort. Smilie
# 7  
Old 08-16-2013
try also:
Code:
awk '! a[substr($0,1,1)]++ && NR>1 { print "#"} 1' infile

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