column handling in awk - Shell Programming and Scripting

Mish_99 · #1 10-10-2008

Dear Scripting experts,

I have a problem which i cannot get my head around and wondered if anyone can help me. I have two files "file1" and "file2" and i want to replace column one from file 1 with column one with file2.(where file two has many columns). see example.. ive tried to use cut and paste but got myslef in a mess...

file1 file2
1 9 66 8 A
2 8 3 9 B
3 66 4 25 C
4 66 2 6 D
7 4 3 3 E
5 4 5 45 F

Output:-
1 66 8 A
2 3 9 B
3 4 25 C
4 2 6 D
7 3 3 E
5 5 45 F

Is there an easy way i can do this in awk? ideally i would like to have a one liner which i could invoke using the system command in a perl script.

Thanks

Mish

zaxxon · #2 10-10-2008

Sorry, but I can't make out, which part is from file1 and which from file2. Can you post them on separate lines and use those code tags please^^
Also it already smells like "join" would be a good choice for the tool to use for that.

Mish_99 · #3 10-10-2008

Hi, Osrry for that hope this helps clarify issues

Code:

File 1
1
2
3
4
5
6

Code:

File 2
 9    66 8  a
 8    3  9  b
 66   4  25 c
 66   2  6  d 
 4    3  3  e
 4    5  45 f

Code:

output
  1    66 8  a
  2    3  9  b
  3    4  25 c
  4    2  6  d 
  5    3  3  e
  6    5  45 f

kindest regards

Mish

danmero · #4 10-10-2008

That's a head start:

Code:

awk 'NR==FNR{_[NR]=$0;next;}{$1=_[FNR];print}' file1 file2

radoulov · #5 10-10-2008

I would use Perl directly:

Code:

$ head file*
==> file1 <==
1
2
3
4
5
6

==> file2 <==
 9    66 8  a
 8    3  9  b
 66   4  25 c
 66   2  6  d 
 4    3  3  e
 4    5  45 f
$ perl -e'
  open F1,"<file1"or die$!;open F2,"<file2"or die$!;
  s/([^\s]+)\s*/<F1>/eand s/\n/\t/and print while<F2>;
  close F1;close F2'         
 1      66 8  a
 2      3  9  b
 3      4  25 c
 4      2  6  d 
 5      3  3  e
 6      5  45 f

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