UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,
I know, particular value in the variable should always be of lenth 7 , but the value that is present in thevariable might be of any no.of characters less than or equal to 7... if the no.of characters in the variable is less than 7, I want to add, zeroes at the starting of the field.. How can this be done...

variable
current value It has to be
7 0000007
123 0000123
7654321 7654321

Let me know, how this can be achieved easily

you can proably use printf for formatting your data.

awk '{ printf("%07d",$1)}' data

In ksh, just do
typeset -Z7 var
and then use var. ksh will add the zeroes for you.

You could try exploring the printf command as well. If you have experience using printf in C, you will be right at home. Else, there is always man printf.

Cheers!