Shell Programming and Scripting

I am very new to shell scripting, current try to do a sorting of a text file in paragraphs with ksh script.

example:

File content:

A1100001 line 1 = "testing"
line 2 = something,
line 3 = 100

D1200003 line 1 = "testing"
line 2 = something,
line 3 = 100

B1200003 line 1 = "testing"
line 2 = something,
line 3 = 100

i want the output to be like:

output:

A1100001 line 1 = "testing"
line 2 = something,
line 3 = 100

B1200003 line 1 = "testing"
line 2 = something,
line 3 = 100

D1200003 line 1 = "testing"
line 2 = something,
line 3 = 100

i try use sort but it will sort every line, instead of the 3 lines together

Any advise on how to do a sort by the "A1100001" yet move the 3 lines togther?

Not the best way.. but it will do what you want...

Code:

awk '{if($0 != ""){ if(s){s=s"*"$0}else{s=$0}}else{ print s"*";s=""}}END{print s"*"}' file | sort | tr "*" '\n'

Thanks this works, do u mind explaining to me what it means?

By the way i have a dumb question to ask, after doing this, how can i save it in the original file?

Sorry for asking dumb question, i am quite new here, started on this only for a week, really thanks alot

To save in original file do like this...

Code:

awk '{if($0 != ""){ if(s){s=s"*"$0}else{s=$0}}else{ print s"*";s=""}}END{print s"*"}' file | sort | tr "*" '\n' > temp_file
mv temp_file file

here in script first i check for the blank line..with if($0 != "").
then check if the variable s present or not. and append next line to the previous line separated by *

Check the output of below command.

Code:

awk '{if($0 != ""){ if(s){s=s"*"$0}else{s=$0}}else{ print s"*";s=""}}END{print s"*"}' file

then run the sort command to get the output as we want it.

then * should be replaced with new line \n to get desired output.

hope it clears you doubt...