1)I am trying to write a script that works interactively lists duplicated records on certain field/column and asks user to delete one or more. And finally it deletes all the records the used has asked for.

I have an idea to store those line numbers in an array, not sure how to do this in scripting.

2)Also how do I pipe pattern file into grep command
Here is what i am trying to do
cut -d" " -f2 | sort | uniq -d | grep -f ??? stuck here

Do i have to write to temp file for it?

Hi there,

Give us some sample input & output data details.....
so that we will try something...

Sample data is like

Order# Appt No# Status
112 157 open
112 157 closed
113 123 open
113 234 open
113 123 closed


The script should ask for every duplicate record what they want to do

There are duplicated for 112
1) 112 157 open
2) 112 157 closed
which one do you want to delete?

There are duplicates for 113
1)113 123 open
2)113 234 open
3)113 123 closed
which one do you want to delete? 2


After clean up data should look like If only deleted 113 which is wrong data

Order# Appt No# Status
112 157 open
112 157 closed
113 123 open
113 123 closed

Hey!! sounds like a homework to me .