How to Replace string between delimiters?

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How to Replace string between delimiters?

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08-08-2012

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How to Replace string between delimiters?

Basically , i want to delete strings of a particular pattern from the flat file which is " | " pipe delimited.

Below are the valid formats :

1) AAA (0) 111-111-111, AAA, BB
2) AAA (0) 111-111-1111;X, AAA, BB

original flat file example :

Code:

|ABC ABC XHAMK|AAA  (0) 111-111-111, AAA, BB|ABS ABS XYZ|
|ABC BBB CCC|AAA (0) 111-111-1111;X, AAA, BB|NNN XXX|...

Desired output:

Code:

|ABC ABC XHAMK|ABS ABS XYZ|
|ABC BBB CCC|NNN XXX|...

I am getting the output when i use the below:

Code:

sed 's/|AAA[]*([0-9]*)[]*[0-9]*-[0-9]*-[0-9]*, [A-Z]*, [A-Z]*//'

But i need some generic approach that can be used for all two valid format given above.
Also, the values (111-111-111) can be any thing like ALPHANUMERIC [[A-Z]*[0-9]* and special characters like [.(+&$*);-/,%:#@"]

Moderator's Comments:

Mod Comment

Please use code tags next time for your code and data.

Last edited by zaxxon; 08-08-2012 at 11:17 AM.. Reason: code tags

Ravi_007

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08-08-2012

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sed does not understand columns, and getting it to do so through a complicated enough regex can be ugly.

awk does understand columns, and can have expressions with more than one regex in them.

Code:

awk -F"|" '($2 ~ /regex1/)||($2 ~ /regex2/) { 
        $2="";
        gsub(/[|][|]/, "|");
}' filename

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08-09-2012

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Can you please explain the code that you provided. And how i can implement the same in my scenario?

---------- Post updated at 01:59 AM ---------- Previous update was at 01:49 AM ----------

The below command is useful but it aslo delete the other patterns starting with AAABCDE

Code:

 
sed -e "s/|AAA[ ]*[^|]*|/|/g"

Sample :

Code:

|ABC ABC XHAMK|AAA  (0) 111-111-111, AAA, BB|ABS ABS XYZ|
|ABC BBB CCC|AAACDE|NNN XXX|...

Output: Bu using sed -e "s/|AAA[ ]*[^|]*|/|/g"

Code:

 
|ABC ABC XHAMK|ABS ABS XYZ|
|ABC BBB CCC||NNN XXX|...

Here, even the string AAACDE is getting deleted , which is incorrect.

Desired Output :

Code:

|ABC ABC XHAMK|ABS ABS XYZ|
|ABC BBB CCC|AAACDE|NNN XXX|..

Only Pattern starting with AAA followed with one or more space.
Logic: Read the pipe "|" followed with pattern (|AAA (One or more space) till the other pipe is encounter and replace with the "|")

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravi_007

Can you please explain the code that you provided. And how i can implement the same in my scenario?

It uses awk with the field-separator of |.

It checks if the second field ($2) matches two different regexes, /regex1/ or /regex2/, and if it does, sets field 2 blank ($2="")

Then it replaces || with | in the entire line, to delete field 2 completely.

You'd implement it in your case by putting the regexes you wanted in /regex1/ and /regex2/.

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