Sponsored Content
Full Discussion: Add blank lines
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Add blank lines Post 302333158 by jepeto on Saturday 11th of July 2009 09:25:05 AM
Old 07-11-2009
Question Add blank lines

Hi!

I am trying to add blank lines at the end of a text file just before the last line. (This is a part of a script)

For example this is my text file... lines with dashes are included

Quote:
--------------------

this is an example of
my lack of
knowledge to use the
sed editor

--------------------
The problem is that i dont know before hand the number of blank lines to be added. The number of blank lines are determined by a variable and they are not always the same

ex
> echo $a
> 4

So the sed command....

Code:
sed '/-----------/s/^/\n\n\n\n&/g' myfile.txt

....does not do the job
What i need is to use my variable output in a command to add the blank lines

Any help will be appreciated
 

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

How to count lines - ignoring blank lines and commented lines

What is the command to count lines in a files, but ignore blank lines and commented lines? I have a file with 4 sections in it, and I want each section to be counted, not including the blank lines and comments... and then totalled at the end. Here is an example of what I would like my... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: kthatch
6 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

remove blank lines and merge lines in shell

Hi, I'm not a expert in shell programming, so i've come here to take help from u gurus. I'm trying to tailor a csv file that i got to make it work for the LOAD FROM command. I've a datatable csv of the below format - --in file format xx,xx,xx ,xx , , , , ,,xx, xxxx,, ,, xxx,... (11 Replies)
Discussion started by: dvah
11 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

Delete blank lines, if blank lines are more than one using shell

Hi, Consider a file named "testfile" The contents of file are as below first line added for test second line added for test third line added for test fourth line added for test fifth line added for test (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: anil8103
5 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

Help in replacing two blank lines with two lines of diff data

Hi.. I'm facing a trouble in replacing two blank lines in a file using shell script... I used sed to search a line and insert two blank lines after the searchd line using the following sed command. sed "/data/{G;G;}/" filename . In the file, after data tag, two lines got inserted blank lines..... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: arjun_arippa
4 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

sed show lines text between 2 blank lines

I have a file like blah blah blah blah this is the text I need, which might be between 1-4 lines, but always has a blank line above and below it, and is at the end of the text file the code tags don't show the trailing blank line. I started by deleting the last blank line with: ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: unclecameron
2 Replies

6. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Finding lines with a regular expression, replacing them with blank lines

So the tag for this forum says all newbies welcome... All I want to do is go through my file and find lines which contain a given string of characters then replace these with a blank line. I really tried to find a simple command to do this but failed. Here's what I did come up with though: ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: Golpette
2 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

Reform Lines in File without blank lines and spaces

Hello All, I have a file with data as below. Each line consists of 21 fields. I am not able to load them back to the database. 50733339,"834","834 ","005010X279A1","N","Y","007977163","0001 ",30,"2110D ","EB ","EB007 ","2 ","Conditional Required Data Element Miss ing... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: Praveenkulkarni
3 Replies

8. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Delete blank spaces and blank lines in a file

Hi Gurus, Somebody can say me how to delete blank spaces and blank lines in a file unix, please. Thank you for advanced. (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: systemoper
10 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

To check Blank Lines, Blank Records and Junk Characters in a File

Hi All Need Help I have a file with the below format (ABC.TXT) : ®¿¿ABCDHEJJSJJ|XCBJSKK01|M|7348974982790 HDFLJDKJSKJ|KJALKSD02|M|7378439274898 KJHSAJKHHJJ|LJDSAJKK03|F|9898982039999 (cont......) I need to write a script where it will check for : blank lines (between rows,before... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: chatwithsaurav
6 Replies

10. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Delete multiple lines between blank lines containing two patterns

Hi all, I'm looking for a way (sed or awk) to delete multiple lines between blank lines containing two patterns ex: user: alpha parameter_1 = 15 parameter_2 = 1 parameter_3 = 0 user: alpha parameter_1 = 15 parameter_2 = 1 parameter_3 = 0 user: alpha parameter_1 = 16... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: ce9888
3 Replies
SED(1)							      General Commands Manual							    SED(1)

NAME
sed - stream editor SYNOPSIS
sed [ -n ] [ -e script ] [ -f sfile ] [ file ] ... DESCRIPTION
Sed copies the named files (standard input default) to the standard output, edited according to a script of commands. The -f option causes the script to be taken from file sfile; these options accumulate. If there is just one -e option and no -f's, the flag -e may be omitted. The -n option suppresses the default output. A script consists of editing commands, one per line, of the following form: [address [, address] ] function [arguments] In normal operation sed cyclically copies a line of input into a pattern space (unless there is something left after a `D' command), applies in sequence all commands whose addresses select that pattern space, and at the end of the script copies the pattern space to the standard output (except under -n) and deletes the pattern space. An address is either a decimal number that counts input lines cumulatively across files, a `$' that addresses the last line of input, or a context address, `/regular expression/', in the style of ed(1) modified thus: The escape sequence ` ' matches a newline embedded in the pattern space. A command line with no addresses selects every pattern space. A command line with one address selects each pattern space that matches the address. A command line with two addresses selects the inclusive range from the first pattern space that matches the first address through the next pattern space that matches the second. (If the second address is a number less than or equal to the line number first selected, only one line is selected.) Thereafter the process is repeated, looking again for the first address. Editing commands can be applied only to non-selected pattern spaces by use of the negation function `!' (below). In the following list of functions the maximum number of permissible addresses for each function is indicated in parentheses. An argument denoted text consists of one or more lines, all but the last of which end with `' to hide the newline. Backslashes in text are treated like backslashes in the replacement string of an `s' command, and may be used to protect initial blanks and tabs against the stripping that is done on every script line. An argument denoted rfile or wfile must terminate the command line and must be preceded by exactly one blank. Each wfile is created before processing begins. There can be at most 10 distinct wfile arguments. (1)a text Append. Place text on the output before reading the next input line. (2)b label Branch to the `:' command bearing the label. If label is empty, branch to the end of the script. (2)c text Change. Delete the pattern space. With 0 or 1 address or at the end of a 2-address range, place text on the output. Start the next cycle. (2)d Delete the pattern space. Start the next cycle. (2)D Delete the initial segment of the pattern space through the first newline. Start the next cycle. (2)g Replace the contents of the pattern space by the contents of the hold space. (2)G Append the contents of the hold space to the pattern space. (2)h Replace the contents of the hold space by the contents of the pattern space. (2)H Append the contents of the pattern space to the hold space. (1)i text Insert. Place text on the standard output. (2)l List the pattern space on the standard output in an unambiguous form. Non-printing characters are spelled in two digit ascii, and long lines are folded. (2)n Copy the pattern space to the standard output. Replace the pattern space with the next line of input. (2)N Append the next line of input to the pattern space with an embedded newline. (The current line number changes.) (2)p Print. Copy the pattern space to the standard output. (2)P Copy the initial segment of the pattern space through the first newline to the standard output. (1)q Quit. Branch to the end of the script. Do not start a new cycle. (2)r rfile Read the contents of rfile. Place them on the output before reading the next input line. (2)s/regular expression/replacement/flags Substitute the replacement string for instances of the regular expression in the pattern space. Any character may be used instead of `/'. For a fuller description see ed(1). Flags is zero or more of g Global. Substitute for all nonoverlapping instances of the regular expression rather than just the first one. p Print the pattern space if a replacement was made. w wfile Write. Append the pattern space to wfile if a replacement was made. (2)t label Test. Branch to the `:' command bearing the label if any substitutions have been made since the most recent reading of an input line or execution of a `t'. If label is empty, branch to the end of the script. (2)w wfile Write. Append the pattern space to wfile. (2)x Exchange the contents of the pattern and hold spaces. (2)y/string1/string2/ Transform. Replace all occurrences of characters in string1 with the corresponding character in string2. The lengths of string1 and string2 must be equal. (2)! function Don't. Apply the function (or group, if function is `{') only to lines not selected by the address(es). (0): label This command does nothing; it bears a label for `b' and `t' commands to branch to. (1)= Place the current line number on the standard output as a line. (2){ Execute the following commands through a matching `}' only when the pattern space is selected. (0) An empty command is ignored. SEE ALSO
ed(1), grep(1), awk(1) SED(1)
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:13 PM.
Unix & Linux Forums Content Copyright 1993-2022. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy