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Adding a "|" character for a text file

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# 1  
Old 11-03-2011
Adding a "|" character for a text file
Dear Sir,

I am having text file with no delimiter like below
Code:
RAGAV S S             12358     SALES EXECUTIVE            25000
RAJU R B              64253     SALES EXECUTIVE            28000
RUKMAN S              32588     SALES EXECUTIVE            40000
NARGUND S S           12356     SALES EXECUTIVE            50000

I want to add a "|" character in each line in fixed columns (i.e 1st ,20th,30th,50th,60th positions)
the result will be
Code:
|RAGAV S S          |   12358  |   SALES EXECUTIVE    |        25000 |
|RAJU R B           |   64253  |   SALES EXECUTIVE    |        28000 |
|RUKMAN S           |   32588  |   SALES EXECUTIVE    |        40000 |
|NARGUND S S        |   12356  |   SALES EXECUTIVE    |        50000 |

pls help
Last edited by Scott; 11-04-2011 at 05:35 AM.. Reason: Code tags, please...
# 2  
Old 11-03-2011
If the file pattern is as what you have posted, try this...
Code:
sed "s/\(.*\) \([0-9]*\) \(.*\) \([0-9]*\)/|\1|\2|\3|\4|/g" input_file

If the file pattern is different, post the actual data.
What do you mean by 20th position? You need a pipe @ 20th position?

--ahamed
Last edited by ahamed101; 11-03-2011 at 11:38 PM..
# 3  
Old 11-03-2011
I assumed data was already in fixed columns. Save this to a file named something like add_pipe.ksh and invoke with the list of columns where you'd like a pipe symbol supplied on the command line. It automatically adds one at the beginning and ending of the line.

Code:
#!/usr/bin/env ksh

awk -v list="$@" '
BEGIN {
        n = split( list, col, " " );
    }
    {
        last = 1;
        printf( "|" );
        for( i = 1; i <= n; i++ )
        {
            printf( "%s | ", substr( $0, last, col[i]-1 ) );
            last = col[i]+1;
        }
        printf( "%s|\n", substr( $0, last ) );
    }
'

Invoke like this:
Code:
add_pipe.ksh 10 25 50 62

to replace the caracter at character positions 10, 25, 50 and 62 with " | ". Per your example, it adds spaces.
# 4  
Old 11-04-2011
Below would be the output if pipes placed at the positions you required
Code:
~/home>sed s'/^\(.\{19\}\)\(.\{9\}\)\(.\{19\}\)\(.\{9\}\)/|\1|\2|\3|\4|/' inputfile
|RAGAV S S          |   12358 |    SALES EXECUTIVE|         |   25000
|RAJU R B           |   64253 |    SALES EXECUTIVE|         |   28000
|RUKMAN S           |   32588 |    SALES EXECUTIVE|         |   40000
|NARGUND S S        |   12356 |    SALES EXECUTIVE|         |   50000

# or else try
~/home>sed s'/^\(.\{19\}\)\(.\{9\}\)\(.\{19\}\)\(.\{9\}\)\(.*\)$/|\1|\2|\3|\4|\5 |/' inputfile

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