Login or Register to Ask a Question and Join Our Community


Shell Programming and Scripting

Transpose an entire text file

Login to Discuss or Reply to this Discussion in Our Community

 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Transpose an entire text file
# 1  
Old 09-30-2009
Transpose an entire text file
Hello all,

I want to transpose the rows of a file to the columns (every characters include spaces), i.e.:

input:
Code:
abcdefg
123 456

output:
Code:
a1
b2
c3
  d
e4
f5
g6

I wrote a script:
Code:
#!/bin/csh -f

set num=`cat $1 |wc -l`
echo "$num rows of $1 transposing to columns..."

if ( -f temp1 ) then
  rm temp1
  touch temp1
else
  touch temp1
endif

set i=1
set j=2

while ($i <= $num)
# read a row,  transpose to a column
  sed -n "$i p" $1 | sed 's/\n*/\n/g' > temp
# merge columns in files
  paste temp$i temp > temp$j
  rm temp$i
  @ i++
  @ j++
end

mv temp$i $1.transposed
rm temp

echo "Done!"

It works, but the paste command has several problems:
It inserts an empty column when appends a new column;
The columns length need be the same;
And the biggest problem is since the script keeps read and write temp files, it is very slow, the files I want to transpose have tens of thousands of rows, so it takes nearly an hour to proceed large files.

Can anyone provide a better idea to me? Thanks.
Last edited by Franklin52; 09-30-2009 at 05:27 AM.. Reason: Please use code tags!
# 2  
Old 09-30-2009
Try awk
Code:
awk '{for(x=0;++x<=NF;)a[x","NR]=$x}END{for(y=0;++y<=NF;){for(z=0;++z<=NR;) printf a[y","z];print ""}}' FS= file

# 3  
Old 09-30-2009
I'm not familiar with awk, where to specify the input and output files using the script?

Quote:
Originally Posted by danmero
Try awk
Code:
awk '{for(x=0;++x<=NF;)a[x","NR]=$x}END{for(y=0;++y<=NF;){for(z=0;++z<=NR;) printf a[y","z];print ""}}' FS= file

# 4  
Old 09-30-2009
Code:
Dear guys;

   This solution provided by danmero is not working on solaries were my system can't take FS="" as null value??? any exeplination please!!!

I am working on the below station type:-
SunOS server2 5.10 Generic_118833-36 sun4u sparc SUNW,Netra-210

BR

# 5  
Old 09-30-2009
Use /usr/xpg4/bin/awk on Solaris.
# 6  
Old 09-30-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by danmero
Use /usr/xpg4/bin/awk on Solaris.
Code:
I have tried every thing (/usr/xpg4/bin/awk  & nawk) but with no output!!!!

# 7  
Old 09-30-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by ahmad.diab
Code:
I have tried every thing (/usr/xpg4/bin/awk  & nawk) but with no output!!!!

You need to change the code in order to make it work with older AWK implementations
(added max to handle variable record length).

Code:
nawk 'END {
  for (i=1; i<=max; i++)
    for (j=1; j<=NR; j++)
      printf "%s", _[j,i] (j == NR ? RS : FS)
  }
{
  for (i=0; i<=length; i++) _[NR,i] = substr($0,i,1)
  max = max < length ? length : max
  }' infile

P.S. Calling length without arguments is deprecated, so it should be length($0).
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Search a string and display its location on the entire string and make a text file

I want to search a small string in a large string and find the locations of the string. For this I used grep "string" -ob <file name where the large string is stored>. Now this gives me the locations of that string. Now how do I store these locations in a text file. Please use CODE tags as... (7 Replies)
Discussion started by: ANKIT ROY
7 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

Print text between 2 strings for the entire file

hey guys, for the following output: starting open open close close starting close starting open close close starting open open close open (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: boaz733
2 Replies

3. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Append two lines of text to php.ini in the entire directory tree.e

I am looking to write a script that will read the php.ini files on my web host. If the two lines do exist do nothing. If not append two lines to the end of it then move on to the next directory and open the next php.ini file. I have the beginning of one that was given to me on another web site but... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: Larrykh465
6 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

Replacing entire fields with specific text at end or beginning of field

Greetings. I've got a csv file with data along these lines: Spumoni's Pizza Place, Placemats n Things, Just Lamps Counterfeit Dollars by Vinnie, Just Shades, Dollar StoreI want to replace the entire comma-delimited field if it matches something ending in "Place" or beginning with "Dollar",... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: palmfrond
2 Replies

5. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Fill csv entire column with content from another text file

I have a csv that looks like this: ,yude-to-nap2,0,0,0,0,0 ,2twis-yude-to-nap2,0,0,0,0,0 ,2tiws-yude-to-nap2,0,0,0,0,0 ,2arcos-yude-to-nap2,0,0,0,0,0 and another file named m1 that has a single line of text as content: Feb 1 15:30:20 How can I fill the whole the empty column of the... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: RobertoRivera
1 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

Transpose few columns alone in a Text file

Hi Friends, I am Stuck up with a problem on transposing Rows to Coloumns.. Though there are many threads on this my problem is little difficult.. I have a tab separated file like Below, computer selling_loc currency_type manufacturer_name salesweek-wk1 sales-wk2 ...wk-3 ..wk4 till... (7 Replies)
Discussion started by: heinz_holan
7 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

Transpose a text file.

Hello, I have a text file which is like a matrix m rows and n columns. Now I want to convert it into n rows and m columns. Thanks for hint. (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: zhshqzyc
1 Replies

8. Shell Programming and Scripting

Context Sensitive smallcap => TitleCap conversion in an entire text file

I desperately need to write a script that go into text documents that list the location of files in small caps and have it convert the directories and subdirectories that lead to the file as Title Caps while leaving the file itself in small caps... to illustrate what I mean: I need to turn txt... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: monkeyman
6 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

File Transpose

Hi ALL I have one input file say FILE1 which looks as below. a=1 b=2 c=3 a=4 b=5 c=6 . . . Here a,b,c...etc are variable names. The output file(FILE2) should look like 1,2,3 4,5,6 ..... ..... (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: 46019
5 Replies

10. Shell Programming and Scripting

Remove spaces from first field, and write entire contents into other text file

Hi all, I have searched and found various threads about removing spaces from a field within a text file. Unfortunately, I have not found exactly what I'm looking for, nor am I adept enough to modify what I've found into what I need. I use the following command to remove the first line... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: carriehoff
3 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question