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Remove 3rd and onwards occurances of a character

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# 1  
Old 07-07-2010
Remove 3rd and onwards occurances of a character
I have a file with "@" in every line
Code:
fdgfgddfg@sfsdfdsf@dfdfd@@vfdfsdfd@
sfsdfs@sdfd@gfhfgh@@ddffg@sdf@
srfgtfsdfs@sdfertrd@eergfhfgh@@ddffg@sdf@
wttrtrt@sdfd@sdfdf@@sdfdfds@@@

I need to remove all the fourth and onwards occurences of "@".
so my final o/p would be
Code:
fdgfgddfg@sfsdfdsf@dfdfd@ vfdfsdfd
sfsdfs@sdfd@gfhfgh@ ddffg sdf
srfgtfsdfs@sdfertrd@eergfhfgh@ ddffg sdf
wttrtrt@sdfd@sdfdf@ sdfdfds

Can anyone please help
Last edited by Shivdatta; 07-07-2010 at 01:26 PM.. Reason: Please use code tags
# 2  
Old 07-07-2010
The posted desired output is different from what you ask.
# 3  
Old 07-07-2010
Perhaps you mean to replace them with a space?
Code:
sed 's/@/ /4g' infile

Code:
fdgfgddfg@sfsdfdsf@dfdfd@ vfdfsdfd
sfsdfs@sdfd@gfhfgh@ ddffg sdf
srfgtfsdfs@sdfertrd@eergfhfgh@ ddffg sdf
wttrtrt@sdfd@sdfdf@ sdfdfds

# 4  
Old 07-07-2010
Thanks for the reply but i'm getting an error
sed: command garbled: s/@/ /4g . Are you sure 4g works that way.
# 5  
Old 07-07-2010
Code:
perl -pe '$c=0; s/(@)/ ++$c<=3 ? $1 : " "/eg' file

# 6  
Old 07-07-2010
The perl script works splendid but i'm looking for a UNIX approach.
Wonder why sed 's/@/ /4g' gives an error Smilie
# 7  
Old 07-07-2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shivdatta
Thanks for the reply but i'm getting an error
sed: command garbled: s/@/ /4g . Are you sure 4g works that way.
Hi, I am sure it works on my system, as I posted the output. I think it should work with other proper seds too.
Are you on Solaris? See if this works:
Code:
/usr/xpg4/bin/sed 's/@/ /4g' infile

Last edited by Scrutinizer; 07-07-2010 at 03:01 PM..
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