Shell Programming and Scripting

What output do you get when you do run this command?

Code:

echo "12345_smith johnson jones_bubba_12345_20120215_4_0.pdf" | awk -F '[_.]*' '{print $1,$2,$3,$4,$5,$6,$7,$8,$9,$10}' OFS=:

Output -
12345:smith johnson jones:bubba:12345:20120215:4:0df::

Which looks really close. Expected output would be -
12345_smith johnson jones_bubba_12345_20120215_4_0.pdf

I'll use your code to do some tweaking and see if I can get it. I'll reply back and let you know what happens.

Thank you!!

If you want to maintain the space in the name, then you should remove it from your FS list.

Just remove the space which is between your dot and your _
FS="[\. _]+"
must be changed to :
FS="[\._]+"

You must then review the rest of your awk code to check that it behaves as you expect.

If not, then post what input you have, what output you expect, and what is your current code, people will then be able to help you to fix it.

Hi, I used this to check if there was an anomaly with your particular awk, but it looks OK, so Bartus11' suggestion would seem to work after all.
Just change OFS to underscore for the desired output and puy a dot between $7 and $8:

Code:

echo "12345_smith johnson jones_bubba_12345_20120215_4_0.pdf" | awk -F '[_.]*' '{print $1,$2,$3,$4,$5,$6,$7"."$8}' OFS=_

Note that if what you want is to rebuild the initial filename, you can just use the FILENAME awk built in variable.

I did get it working using the FS=[_.]*, the output was in the format I expected.
I appreciate the help!! This is a GREAT forum!
Randy