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Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Append specific lines to a previous line based on sequential search criteria Post 302345926 by jesse on Thursday 20th of August 2009 02:58:51 PM
Old 08-20-2009
Append specific lines to a previous line based on sequential search criteria

I'll try explain this as best I can. Let me know if it is not clear.

I have large text files that contain data as such:

Code:
143593502  09-08-20 09:02:13 xxxxxxxxxxx          xxxxxxxxxxx          09-08-20 09:02:11 N     line 1 test
line 2 test
line 3 test
143593503  09-08-20 09:02:13 xxxxxxxxxxx          xxxxxxxxxxx          09-08-20 09:02:10 N     another message

Every line in the file that starts with a 9 digit number (followed by a date / time and so on) is a unique message. In the example the first 3 lines are really 1 message (with 2 newlines in it).

This first 9 digit number increments sequentially.

What I want to do is get each message in it's entirety onto 1 line. So I *want* the file to look like:

Code:
143593502  09-08-20 09:02:13 xxxxxxxxxxx          xxxxxxxxxxx          09-08-20 09:02:11 N     line 1 test line 2 test line 3 test
143593503  09-08-20 09:02:13 xxxxxxxxxxx          xxxxxxxxxxx          09-08-20 09:02:10 N     another message

Note that I'd like there to be a space between the additional lines in a single message.

My first idea was to remove ALL newlines from the file and replace them with spaces, and then work through that data inserting a newline after each of the sequence numbers.

I believe this will solve the problem but unfortunately I don't have the chops to pull it off. I'm sure there are also other, potentially better, ways of solving the problem.

One potential issue, I suppose, would be if one of the "extra" lines in a single message was miraculously the next 9 digit number in the sequence itself. I believe the chances of this would be pretty slim, probably to the extent of making this a moot concern for me at this point... but nonetheless it's something to consider.

Ideally I would like to do this with either perl or bash.

Thanks.
 

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is  a  text formatter.	Its input consists of the text to be out-
put, intermixed with formatting commands.  A  formatting  command
is  a  line  containing  the  control character followed by a two
character command name, and possibly one or more arguments.   The
control  character is initially . (dot).  The formatted output is
produced on standard output.  The formatting commands are  listed
below, with being a number, being a character, and being a title.
A + before n means it may be signed,  indicating  a  positive  or
negative change from the current value.  Initial values for where
relevant, are given in parentheses.
  .ad	  Adjust right margin.
  .ar	  Arabic page numbers.
  .br	  Line break.  Subsequent text will begin on a new line.
  .bl n   Insert n blank lines.
  .bp +n  Begin new page and number it n. No n means +1.
  .cc c   Control character is set to c.
  .ce n   Center the next n input lines.
  .de zz  Define a macro called zz. A line with .. ends definition.
  .ds	  Double space the output. Same as .ls 2.
  .ef t   Even page footer title is set to t.
  .eh t   Even page header title is set to t.
  .fi	  Begin filling output lines as full as possible.
  .fo t   Footer titles (even and odd) are set to t.
  .hc c   The character c (e.g., %) tells roff where hyphens are permitted.
  .he t   Header titles (even and odd) are set to t.
  .hx	  Header titles are suppressed.
  .hy n   Hyphenation is done if n is 1, suppressed if it is 0. Default is 1.
  .ig	  Ignore input lines until a line beginning with .. is found.
  .in n   Indent n spaces from the left margin; force line break.
  .ix n   Same as .in but continue filling output on current line.
  .li n   Literal text on next n lines.  Copy to output unmodified.
  .ll +n  Line length (including indent) is set to n (65).
  .ls +n  Line spacing: n (1) is 1 for single spacing, 2 for double, etc.
  .m1 n   Insert n (2) blank lines between top of page and header.
  .m2 n   Insert n (2) blank lines between header and start of text.
  .m3 n   Insert n (1) blank lines between end of text and footer.
  .m4 n   Insert n (3) blank lines between footer and end of page.
  .na	  No adjustment of the right margin.
  .ne n   Need n lines.  If fewer are left, go to next page.
  .nn +n  The next n output lines are not numbered.
  .n1	  Number output lines in left margin starting at 1.
  .n2 n   Number output lines starting at n.  If 0, stop numbering.
  .ni +n  Indent line numbers by n (0) spaces.
  .nf	  No more filling of lines.
  .nx f   Switch input to file f.
  .of t   Odd page footer title is set to t.
  .oh t   Odd page header title is set to t.
  .pa +n  Page adjust by n (1).  Same as .bp
  .pl +n  Paper length is n (66) lines.
  .po +n  Page offset.	Each line is started with n (0) spaces.
  .ro	  Page numbers are printed in Roman numerals.
  .sk n   Skip n pages (i.e., make them blank), starting with next one.
  .sp n   Insert n blank lines, except at top of page.
  .ss	  Single spacing.  Equivalent to .ls 1.
  .ta	  Set tab stops, e.g., .ta 9 17 25 33 41 49 57 65 73 (default).
  .tc c   Tabs are expanded into c.  Default is space.
  .ti n   Indent next line n spaces; then go back to previous indent.
  .tr ab  Translate a into b on output.
  .ul n   Underline the letters and numbers in the next n lines.
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