Shell Programming and Scripting

I have played with this for some time but i dont seem like i am getting it right. I am trying to change the delimiters on a file so i can import it into a database. this file has rows of data separated by enter

Right now the delimiters are represented by tabs and " ".

e.g.
"dlfkldfs flsdflk" [tab] "dkfjdlfj" [tab] "Jan 27, 2009 10:23 AM" [tab] ....

i want to change it from that to ---->
kjfjgfd gkjfkgg, kdjfljff, Jan 27, 2009 10:23 AM, .....
kjfjgfd gkjfkgg, kdjfljff, Jan 27, 2009 10:23 AM, .....

basically i want to get rid of the double qoutation and the tabs and just have commas as the delimitters.

Help is greatly appreciated

Code:

> cat file170
"dlfkldfs flsdflk"      "dkfjdlfj"      "Jan 27, 2009 10:23 AM" ....
"dlfkldfs flsdflk"      "abcdefgh"      "Jan 28, 2009 10:23 AM" ....

> cat file170 | tr "\t" "," | tr -d '"'
dlfkldfs flsdflk,dkfjdlfj,Jan 27, 2009 10:23 AM,....
dlfkldfs flsdflk,abcdefgh,Jan 28, 2009 10:23 AM,....

Yes exactly.

I am running on Windows OS if that matters...

First let me say that i am no programmer and have little knowledge. And that i am running the Perl Script on Windows OS, which i forgot to mention that

having that said i am trying to do this on a larger data set and automate the process. This is what i have so far (plz keep in mind i just learnt Perl)

#! usr/bin/perl -w
# print qq(Insert the file path of the file to convert);
# $input = <STDIN>;
# chomp $input;

# print qq(Insert the file path of the file to write to);
# $output = <STDIN>;
# chomp $output;

open(FILE, "WorkItems.csv" || die "Can't open file: $!";
@lines = <FILE>;
close (FILE);
foreach $line (@lines) {
$_ = $line;
s#\t#,;
}
open (NEWFILE, ">test1.txt") || die "Opening test1.txt: $!";
NEWFILE = @lines;
close (NEWFILE);
exit 0;

sticking with your code and not making any suggestions or asking questions, this is how it maybe will work:

Code:

open(FILE, "WorkItems.csv" || die "Can't open file: $!";
@lines = <FILE>;
close (FILE);
foreach $line (@lines) {
  $line =~ tr/"//d;#remove all double-quotes
  $line =~ s/\t/,/g;#replace tabs with a comma
}

open (NEWFILE, ">test1.txt") || die "Opening test1.txt: $!";
print NEWFILE @lines;
close (NEWFILE);
exit 0;

See if that works. Make sure to check the newfile well.

thanks for your help on the code. at least now im not getting any error messages

it did take out the double qoutes and put some commas here and there... but it didnt do it consistently and it also added lots of these 爀


Here is how one line of data looks like
"12722" "New" "Major" "Unassigned" "Asset Manager" "Unassigned" "7.1.1" "" "library" "Bruce Borth" "Jan 7, 2009 10:27 AM" "Jan 11, 2009 1:50 PM" "Unassigned" "Library function does not have the ability to create a library without enabling it - Liraries do not depend on other lib messge missing details" "" "" "Defect"爀

now this is what i got as an output for that same line:

12722Ⰰ NewⰀ MajorⰀ UnassignedⰀ Asset ManagerⰀ UnassignedⰀ 7.1.1Ⰰ Ⰰ libraryⰀ Bruce BorthⰀ Jan 7, 2009 10:27 AMⰀ Jan 11, 2009 1:50 PMⰀ UnassignedⰀ Library function does not have the ability to create a library without enabling it - Liraries do not depend on other lib messge missing detailsⰀ Ⰰ Ⰰ Defectഀ
㄀㌀㄀㔀㐀 ,一攀眀 ,一漀爀洀愀氀 ,䴀攀搀椀甀洀 ,刀愀琀椀漀渀愀氀 䄀猀猀攀琀 䴀愀渀愀最攀爀 ,匀攀爀瘀攀爀 ,㜀⸀㄀⸀㄀ ,㜀⸀㄀⸀㄀⸀㄀ 䐀攀瘀 , ,匀愀甀爀愀戀栀 䄀最愀爀眀愀氀 ,䨀愀渀 ㈀　Ⰰ ㈀　　㤀 㐀㨀㐀㔀 倀䴀 ,䨀愀渀 ㈀　Ⰰ ㈀　　㤀 㐀㨀㐀㘀 倀䴀 ,唀渀愀猀猀椀最渀攀搀 ,唀猀攀爀 椀猀 愀氀氀漀眀攀搀 琀漀 搀漀眀渀氀漀愀搀 琀栀攀 愀猀猀攀琀 攀瘀攀渀 琀栀漀甀最栀 椀昀 琀栀攀礀 搀漀渀琀 栀愀瘀攀 瀀攀爀洀椀猀猀椀漀渀 , , ,䐀攀昀攀挀琀 ਍

thank you

post some real lines from your data file, put them betwen code tags. I suspect your data file might not be formatted how you said it is.