Shell Programming and Scripting

Code:

awk -F\| '/^[0-9]/{for(;++i<=NF;)x=x ((i==1)?$i:(($i==int($i))?"|":",") $i);$0=x;x=y}1' file
Col1|Col2|Col3|Col4|col5|col6|col7|col8
1|2|3,3.1,3.2|4|5|6,6.1,6.2|7|8,8.1

What system are you on? Try this:

Code:

nawk '{ 
  split($0,d,".");  #store the integer part
  out= (last==d[1]) ? l"," : l"|";   #compare current integer part with last one; append comma or pipe
  if(l) { printf "%s", out; }    #print it out
  l=$0;  last=d[1];      #remember for comparison
}END{printf "%s",l }' RS="|" input

Thanks mirni for your reply, the script able to run now.

However, it doesnt work for my actual source file. The sample input file is merely example, i apologize for this.

Actual input file contained 25 columns thus i cant post it up all together thus i cited an example in my post.

this sample input file will be more appropriate

Col1|Col2|Col3|Col4|col5|col6|col7|col8
A|data|Test|script|AB|data data|data test data|another|test|data|test|testing|testtt|testng|te

output:
Col1|Col2|Col3|Col4|col5|col6|col7|col8
A|data|Test,script,AB|data data|data test data|another,test,data|test|testing,testtt,testng,te

for this sample file, i will need to take care of col3, col6, col8 for the existence of pipe, and convert it into comma.
Thanks in advance for your help.

No. Think about the 8-th column and clarify your requirements or change your sample input/output.

I don't understand your input and output either: How do you know that it's the 3rd,4th and 5th column that need to be merged, and not 4,5,6?
Please elaborate and ideally post a sample of the real input and desired output. You can attach a file to your post if space is a concern.

try this ..

Code:

$ echo "1|2|3|3.1|3.2|4|5|6|6.1|6.2|7|8|8.1" | tr '|' '\n' | awk ' { if ( $0~/[368]/ ) { print $0":" } else { print $0 } } ' | xargs | sed 's,: ,\,,g;s, ,|,g;s,:$,,g;s,\,4,|4,g;s,\,7,|7,g''
1|2|3,3.1,3.2|4|5|6,6.1,6.2|7|8,8.1
$

@ jayan_jay I thought your previous post has the longest shell line I've ever seen here. No. It was only 177 chars and this one has 187. I'm afraid even to think about the next post.