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Amend format of output from "last"command

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# 1  
Old 12-16-2010
Amend format of output from "last"command
When I run a “last” command, I am getting more than one row per user.

Eg
Code:
userabc pts/2 10.253.0.108 Tue Dec 14 09:21 still logged in
userabc pts/2 10.253.0.108 Tue Dec 14 03:57 - 03:59 (00:01)
userabc pts/2 10.253.0.108 Mon Dec 13 14:25 - 15:43 (01:18)
 
userpqr pts/3 10.253.0.39 Wed Jan 13 15:26 - 18:53 (03:26)
userpqr pts/3 10.253.0.39 Wed Jan 13 15:20 - 15:21 (00:00)
 
userxyz pts/6 10.1.0.23 Thu Jan 14 14:14 still logged in
userxyz pts/6 10.1.0.23 Thu Jan 14 13:40 - 13:42 (00:01)

I need to transfer this file to an external application,
and then import its contents to populate a new table.

Before doing so, I need to remove duplicates, leaving only the most recent entry,
I also need to insert the “|” character between the fields, and remove all spaces, as the external application demands this convention for its import to work.

So the above would end up looking like :
Code:
userabc|pts/2|10.253.0.108|Tue|Dec|14|09:21|still|logged|in|
userpqr|pts/3|10.253.0.39|Wed|Jan|13|15:26|-|18:53|(03:26)|
userxyz|pts/6|10.1.0.23|Thu|Jan|14|14:14|still|logged|in|

Is this possible, within a single unix script ?

Many thanks in anticipation.

Moderator's Comments:
Mod Comment Please use code tags - you got a PM how to do that.
Last edited by zaxxon; 12-16-2010 at 10:55 AM.. Reason: code tags
# 2  
Old 12-16-2010
This as a start:
Code:
$> awk '$1==u || /^$/ {next} {print; u=$1}' infile
userabc pts/2 10.253.0.108 Tue Dec 14 09:21 still logged in
userpqr pts/3 10.253.0.39 Wed Jan 13 15:26 - 18:53 (03:26)
userxyz pts/6 10.1.0.23 Thu Jan 14 14:14 still logged in

Having something like:
Code:
...|still|logged|in

will not be very helpful if you tend to import it into a database table for example. There would be some replacing of the blanks between the date in such cases be involved. I have no good short idea to do this currently but I guess someone will have one ready Smilie
# 3  
Old 12-16-2010
Thanks zaxxon for your prompt responses.
I have run your code, and it is certainly removing all the duplicates.
But I am still not getting a "|" command instead of the spaces separating the fields.
Any further advice would be most welcome.
Thanks again !
# 4  
Old 12-16-2010
Code:
awk 'NF && !a[$1]++{NF=NF+1;print}' OFS="|" file

# 5  
Old 12-17-2010
Thanks Franklin52.
Unfortunately, I am getting :- syntax error near line 1
bailing out near line 1

I created a script containing your code as follows :-
awk 'NF && !a[$1]++{NF=NF+1;print}' OFS="|" myfile
where myfile is the sorted output from the 'last' command.
Am I meant to set NF to a new file name ?
Or set [$1] to a runtime parameter ?
If so, what value ?
Sorry if any of this is obvious, but I am not an expert.
Thanks again for your help.

---------- Post updated at 12:41 PM ---------- Previous update was at 09:23 AM ----------

Hi

I have worked out that I can use

Code:
 

    tr –s  ‘[:space:]’


to reduce the spaces to a single space, then
Code:
 

    sed “s/ /\|/g


to change the single space into a |.

Is there an easier method ?
# 6  
Old 12-17-2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by malts18
Thanks Franklin52.
Unfortunately, I am getting :- syntax error near line 1
bailing out near line 1
Use nawk or /usr/xpg4/bin/awk on Solaris.
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