I am willing to compromise on the quotes, since they are very rare in my input file. However, the solution does not work when there are more than two spaces. I tried the following, but that left the test line unchanged:
That one works well, even for the occurrences of quotes that I have.
I want to write a script which will check the arguments and if there is a single space(if 2 more more space in a row , then do not touch), replace it with _ and then gather the argument
so, program will be ran
./programname hi hello hi usa now hello hello
so, inside of program,... (7 Replies)
I'm reading from a file that is semi-colon delimited. One of the fields contains 2 spaces separating the first and last name (4th field in - "JOHN<space><space> DOE"):
e.g. TORONTO;ONTARIO;1 YONGE STREET;JOHN DOE;CANADA
When I read this record and either echo/print to screen or write to... (4 Replies)
I am searching while I await a response to this so if it has been asked already I apologize.
I have a file with lines in it that look like:
bob johnson email@email.org
I need it to look like:
bob:johnson:email@email.org
I am trying to use sed like this:
sed -e 's/ /:/g' file >... (5 Replies)
Hi all,
Is there a way to perform the above, I am trying to strip out more than one space from a line, but keep the single space. See below output example.
My Name is test test2 test3 test4 test5
My Name is test test2 test3 test4 test5
Please note that the lines would contain... (7 Replies)
consider the small piece of code
while read line
do
echo $line
done < example
content of example file
sadasdasdasdsa erwerewrwr ergdgdfgf rgerg erwererwr
the output is like
sadasdasdasdsa erwerewrwr ergdgdfgf rgerg erwererwr
the... (4 Replies)
I am trying to read a txt file and trying to translate multiples spaces into single spaces so the file is more organized, but whenever I try the command:
tr ' ' ' ' w.txt
The output is:
tr: extra operand `w.txt'
Try `tr --help' for more information.
Can someone please help? :wall:
... (2 Replies)
Platform : RHEL 5.8
I want to end each line of this file with a single quote.
$ cat hello.txt
blueskies
minnie
mickey
gravity
snoopyAt VI editor's command mode, I have used the following command to replace the last character with a single quote.
~
~
~
:%s/$/'/gNow, the lines in the... (10 Replies)
From:
1,2,3,4,5,This is a test
6,7,8,9,0,"This, is a test"
1,9,2,8,3,"This is a ""test"""
4,7,3,1,8,""""
To:
1,2,3,4,5,This is a test
6,7,8,9,0,"This; is a test"
1,9,2,8,3,"This is a ''test''"
4,7,3,1,8,"''"Is there an easy syntax I'm overlooking? There will always be an odd number... (5 Replies)
Hi All.
Attached are two files.
I ran a query and have the output as in the file with name "FILEWITHFOURRECORDS.txt "
I didn't want all the spaces between the columns so I squeezed the spaces with the "tr" command and also added a carriage return at the end of every line.
But in two... (3 Replies)
Hi I want to read a text file and replace various number of spaces between each string in to a single "," or any other character .Please let me know the command to do so. My input file is a txt file which is the output of a SQL table extract so it contains so many spaces between each column of the... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: Hari Prasanth
2 Replies
LEARN ABOUT OSF1
expand
expand(1) General Commands Manual expand(1)NAME
expand, unexpand - Replaces tab characters with spaces or spaces with tab characters
SYNOPSIS
Current syntax
expand [-t tablist] [file...]
unexpand [-a | -t tablist] [file...]
Obsolescent syntax
expand [-tabstop | -tab1,tab2,...,tabn] [file...]
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry standards as follows:
expand: XCU5.0
unexpand: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about industry standards and associated tags.
OPTIONS
Replaces spaces at the beginning of each line with a tab, and inserts tab characters wherever their presence compresses the resultant file
by replacing two or more characters. When the -t option is specified with the unexpand command, the -a option has no effect. (This option
applies to the unexpand command only.) Specifies the tab stops. The tablist argument consists of a single positive decimal integer or
multiple positive decimal integers, separated by spaces or commas, in ascending order. If a single number is specified, tabs are set tab-
list column positions apart instead of the default (8). If multiple numbers are specified, tabs are set at those specific column posi-
tions. Tabbing to tab stop position n thus causes the next character output to be in the (n+1)th column position on that line.
If expand has to process a tab character at a position beyond the last of those specified in a multiple tab stop list, the tab char-
acter is replaced by a single space in the output. Sets tab stops tabstop spaces apart instead of the default (8). (Obsolescent)
Sets tab stops at specified columns. (Obsolescent)
[Tru64 UNIX] Columns are measured in bytes.
OPERANDS
The path name of a file to be processed. If you do not specify this operand, standard input is read.
DESCRIPTION
The expand command changes tab characters to spaces in the named files, or the standard input, and writes the result to the standard out-
put.
The unexpand command puts tab characters into the data from the standard input, or the named files, and writes the result to the standard
output.
Backspace characters are preserved in the output and decrement the column count for tab calculations. The column position count cannot be
decremented below one. The expand command is useful for preprocessing character files (before sorting, looking at specific columns, and so
on.) that contain tab characters.
By default, unexpand converts only spaces that are within sequences of spaces and tab characters at the beginnings of lines. Use -a to
convert other sequences of spaces.
NOTES
If the expand command encounters difficulties opening any specified file, it writes an error message to standard error and terminates imme-
diately with an error status.
If the unexpand command encounters difficulties opening any specified file, it writes an error message to standard error and continues
operation. The exit status will reflect the error.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned by either command: Successful completion. An error occurred.
EXAMPLES
To replace tab characters in file with spaces, enter: expand file To replace the spaces in file with tab characters, enter: unexpand -a
file
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The following environment variables affect the execution of expand and unexpand: Provides a default value for the internationalization
variables that are unset or null. If LANG is unset or null, the corresponding value from the default locale is used. If any of the inter-
nationalization variables contain an invalid setting, the utility behaves as if none of the variables had been defined. If set to a non-
empty string value, overrides the values of all the other internationalization variables. Determines the locale for the interpretation of
sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multibyte characters in arguments). Determines the
locale for the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error. Determines the location of message catalogues for the
processing of LC_MESSAGES.
SEE ALSO
Commands: fold(1), tabs(1)
Standards: standards(5)expand(1)