extracting part of a text file

alinaqvi90 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-21-2009

Hi guys

So I have a very large log file where each event is logged along with the time that it occurred.

So for e.g. The contents of the file look like:

Code:

...
12:00:07 event 0 happened.
12:01:01 event 1 happened.
12:01:05 event 2 happened.
12:01:30 event 3 happened.
12:02:01 event 4 happened.
12:02:40 event 5 happened.
12:03:40 event 6 happened.
12:04:06 event 6 happened.
...

I want to extract every thing in that file listed between a given start time and an end time.

so some thing like all events between
the first entry of 12:01:00 and the last entry of 12:03:59
and store them in a random text file. Note time stamps can be repeated and therefore I mentioned the first and the last entries.

And not all lines in the log file start with a time stamp. Some lines are just random information about the server etc. But I want to extract those lines as well.

Hope I have clarified my question.

And thanks in advance every one

ali

Use CODE tags when posting code, data or logs for better readability and to preserve formatting like indention etc., ty.

zaxxon · #2 (**permalink**) 07-21-2009

Besides adding code tags moving it to shell scripting area - nothing AIX particular in here.

danmero · #3 (**permalink**) 07-21-2009

You can start from this example:

Code:

awk '{a="file."srand()}/12:01/,/12:03/{print >> a}'  file

edidataguy · #4 (**permalink**) 07-21-2009

Code:

sed  -n '/^12:00/,/^12:03/p' event.log > new_event.log

dukessd · #5 (**permalink**) 07-21-2009

Or a nice simple grep would do it:

Code:

grep -E "12:01|12:02|12:03" <input_text_file_name> > <output_text_file_name>

So here we use the grep command to search for multiple "arguments", delimited by the pipe (|) symbol in the <input_text_file_name> and then redirect with the > to the <output_text_file_name> and then you should have the results you want in the <output_text_file_name> file.

pSeries and AIX Information Center

HTH

edidataguy · #6 (**permalink**) 07-21-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by dukessd

Or a nice simple grep would do it:

Code:

grep -E "12:01|12:02|12:03" <input_text_file_name> > <output_text_file_name>

So here we use the grep command to search for multiple "arguments", delimited by the pipe (|) symbol in the <input_text_file_name> and then redirect with the > to the <output_text_file_name> and then you should have the results you want in the <output_text_file_name> file.

pSeries and AIX Information Center

HTH

This may not meet all the requirements.
Remember the requirement says:
"""And not all lines in the log file start with a time stamp. Some lines are just random information about the server etc. But I want to extract those lines as well."""

ryandegreat25 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-21-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by edidataguy

This may not meet all the requirements.
Remember the requirement says:
"""And not all lines in the log file start with a time stamp. Some lines are just random information about the server etc. But I want to extract those lines as well."""

yeah it wouldn't and this is more simpler

Code:

grep 12:0[1-3] event.log

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