Sponsored Content
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Combining certain columns of multiple files into one file Post 303003068 by jgt on Thursday 7th of September 2017 10:05:40 AM
Old 09-07-2017
Quote:
Originally Posted by ksennin
Hello Unix gurus,

I have a large number of files (say X) each containing two columns of data and the same number of rows.

I would like to combine these files to create a unique merged file containing X columns corresponding to the second column of each file (with a bonus of having the first column of the first file only as a first column of the merged file).

I have only started recently to use bash scripting to try and do this, so I am quite new to this, but I have been trying "paste", or even "pr" as below:
Code:
Not the actual code ("..." signify a long list of file names or columns):

pr -m -t -s\  file1 file2 file3 [...] fileX | gawk '{print $1,$2,$4,$6,$8,[...],$X }' > merged.file

I don't really know what I am doing wrong, but when I don't get an error message ("pr: page width too narrow") it is insanely slow, even on a machine with loads of RAM. Would there be a better way to do this basic transformation?

Many thanks for your help and your time!

KS
read the man pages for the cut and paste commands.

---------- Post updated at 10:05 AM ---------- Previous update was at 10:01 AM ----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by jgt
read the man pages for the cut and paste commands.
use the cut command to retrieve only the second field in all but the first file. then paste all the resultant files to the first.
This User Gave Thanks to jgt For This Post:
 

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. Shell Programming and Scripting

combining columns from different files

Hi all, I would be very grateful for some advice on the following. I have several text files. The files are experiment results with columns of data separated by white space. The files begin with several lines of header which are all preceeded by a comment character '#'. Each file has a... (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: iomaire
10 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

Combining columns from different files

I have two files I need to combine. The problem I'm having is I need to only combine data from the second file in the empty spaces of the first. For example: file1 Data Field Data Field Data Field Data Field file2 a - Insert Data b - Insert Data c - Insert Data d - Insert Data... (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: handband2
10 Replies

3. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Combining two text files as columns?

I have one space delimited file with multiple columns and one tab delimited file with multiple columns (They have the same number of rows). I want to basically combine these two text files into a new text file by column. How would I go about doing that? (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: evelibertine
1 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

Combining columns from multiple files to one file

I'm trying to combine colums from multiple file to a single file but having some issues, appreciate your help. The filenames are the same except for the extension, path1.m0 --------- a b c d e f g h i path1.m1 --------- m n o p q r s t u File names are path1.m The... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: rkmca
3 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

Combining multiple column files into one with file name as first row

Hello All, I have several column files like this $cat a_b_s1.xls 1wert 2tg 3asd 4asdf 5asdf $cat c_d_s2.xls 1wert 2tg 3asd 4asdf 5asdf desired put put $cat combined.txt s1 s2 (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: avatar_007
2 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

Combining multiple files

I have 2 files. each having 3 coloums 1st field date as 20130322 2nd field time as 05:55 3rd field numberic value File 2 has entries missing for some date time. FILE1 20130322 05:35 2219 20130322 05:40 1809 20130322 05:45 1617 20130322 05:50 ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: sandeepkmehra
2 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

Combining columns from multiple files into one single output file

Hi, I have 3 files with one column value as shown File: a.txt ------------ Data_a1 Data_a2 File2: b.txt ------------ Data_b1 Data_b2 Data_b3 Data_b4 File3: c.txt ------------ Data_c1 Data_c2 Data_c3 Data_c4 Data_c5 (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: vfrg
6 Replies

8. Linux

[Solved] Combining columns from different files

Hey Guys & Gals, I am stuck with the following ; I have 2 text files, each containing 2 columns. My goal is to have a column from the 2nd file placed inbetween the columns in the first file. Basically the idea is, each address has a different name (but 1 name per address) but 1 address... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: TAPE
6 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

Join two files combining multiple columns and produce mix and match output

I would like to join two files when two columns in each file matches with each other and then produce an output when taking multiple columns. Like I have file A 1234,ABCD,23,JOHN,NJ,USA 2345,ABCD,24,SAM,NY,USA 5678,GHIJ,24,TOM,NY,USA 5678,WXYZ,27,MAT,NJ,USA and file B ... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: mady135
2 Replies

10. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Combining multiple files into one

Hello Everyone, I have 4 different files (one column in each) that I'm trying to combine into 1 file with four columns. Having issues trying to get the columns to format properly. I have tried the following: paste file1 file2 file3 file4 | column -s $'\t' -t > results.txt paste file1 file2... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: malk71
1 Replies
rc.config(4)						     Kernel Interfaces Manual						      rc.config(4)

NAME
rc.config, rc.config.d - files containing system configuration information SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
The system configuration used at startup is contained in files within the directory The file sources all of the files within and and exports their contents to the environment. /etc/rc.config The file is a script that sources all of the scripts, and also sources To read the configuration definitions, only this file need be sourced. This file is sourced by whenever it is run, such as when the command is run to transition between run states. Each file that exists in is sourced, without regard to which startup scripts are to be executed. /etc/rc.config.d The configuration information is structured as a directory of files, rather than as a single file containing the same information. This allows developers to create and manage their own configuration files here, without the complications of shared ownership and access of a common file. /etc/rc.config.d/* Files This is where files containing configuration variable assignments are located. Configuration scripts must be written to be read by the POSIX shell, and not the Bourne shell, or In some cases, these files must also be read and possibly modified by control scripts or the sam program. See sd(4) and sam(1M). For this reason, each variable definition must appear on a separate line, with the syntax: No trailing comments may appear on a variable definition line. Comment statements must be on separate lines, with the comment character in column one. This example shows the required syntax for configuration files: Configuration variables may be declared as array parameters when describing multiple instances of the variable configuration. For example, a system may contain two network interfaces, each having a unique IP address and subnet mask (see ifconfig(1M)). An example of such a dec- laration is as follows: Note that there must be no requirements on the order of the files sourced. This means configuration files must not refer to variables defined in other configuration files, since there is no guarantee that the variable being referenced is currently defined. There is no protection against environment variable namespace collision in these configuration files. Programmers must take care to avoid such prob- lems. /etc/TIMEZONE The file contains the definition of the environment variable. This file is required by POSIX. It is sourced by at the same time the files are sourced. SEE ALSO
rc(1M). rc.config(4)
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:33 PM.
Unix & Linux Forums Content Copyright 1993-2022. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy