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Problem while counting number of fields in TAB delimited file

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# 1  
Old 06-13-2011
Problem while counting number of fields in TAB delimited file
I'm facing a strange problem, please help me out.
Here we go.

I want to count number of fields in particular file.
filename and delimiter character will be passed through parameter.

On command prompt if i type following i get 27 as output (which is correct)
Code:
cat customer.dat | head -1 | awk -F"\t" '{print NF}'

but when i type following it gives 32 as output

Code:
./get_col_lengths.sh customer.dat 'TAB'

Code:
data_file=$1
delimiter_char=$2
header_line=`cat $data_file | head -1`
if [ $delimiter_char = "TAB" ]
then
  col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F"\t" -f '{print NF}'`
else
  col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F"$delimiter_char" '{print NF}'`
fi

it is giving 32 because thr are timestamp (date time) fields in file. So my impression is it is not setting tab as delmiter
Last edited by Scott; 06-14-2011 at 02:25 AM.. Reason: Please use code tags
# 2  
Old 06-13-2011
Try to change quotes:
Code:
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F'\t' -f '{print NF}'`

# 3  
Old 06-14-2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by yazu
Try to change quotes:
Code:
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F'\t' -f '{print NF}'`

this too is not working Smilie
# 4  
Old 06-14-2011
why there is one more -f ?


Code:
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F"\t" -f '{print NF}'`

# 5  
Old 06-14-2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by itkamaraj
why there is one more -f ?


Code:
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F"\t" -f '{print NF}'`

sorry for the typo mistake.
here is the correct code which is not working.

data_file=$1
delimiter_char=$2
header_line=`cat $data_file | head -1`
if [ $delimiter_char = "TAB" ]
then
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F'/t' '{print NF}'`
else
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F"$delimiter_char" '{print NF}'`
fi
# 6  
Old 06-14-2011
i guess, the if statement is failing..

Code:
 
if [ $delimiter_char = "TAB" ]
then
echo "Inside the TAB condition"
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F'/t' '{print NF}'`
else
echo "Coming here for TAB?"
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F"$delimiter_char" '{print NF}'`
fi

execute the script as below

Code:
./get_col_lengths.sh customer.dat 'TAB'

see, which echo is printing

change the if condition as below and execute it once again

Code:
if [ "$delimiter_char" eq "TAB" ]

# 7  
Old 06-14-2011
Quote:
Originally Posted by itkamaraj
i guess, the if statement is failing..

Code:
 
if [ $delimiter_char = "TAB" ]
then
echo "Inside the TAB condition"
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F'/t' '{print NF}'`
else
echo "Coming here for TAB?"
col_cnt=`echo $header_line | awk -F"$delimiter_char" '{print NF}'`
fi

execute the script as below

Code:
./get_col_lengths.sh customer.dat 'TAB'

see, which echo is printing

change the if condition as below and execute it once again

Code:
if [ "$delimiter_char" eq "TAB" ]

No dear, "if" is working, tried that already
still i'm putting output here

./get_col_lengths.sh CUSTOMER.dat 'TAB'
No. of Records in CUSTOMER.dat : 200
No. of Columns in CUSTOMER.dat : 1
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