Shell Programming and Scripting

This one allows 1 blank line after the header line

Code:

awk '!(c && c--) && /^ *$/ {p=0} p; /Sporting interest/ {p=1; c=1}'

It is a sequence of implicit if clauses followed by an { action }.
The p; is an implicit if clause without { action } so the default action is { print }
With explicit if clauses and actions it would give

Code:

awk '{if ((c && c--)==0 && /^ *$/) {p=0}} {if (p!=0) {print}} {if (/Sporting interest/) {p=1; c=1}}'

The variable p indicates if something should be printed.
The variable c holds the number of lines to be not considered for searching for end of section. The (c && c--) let it decrement until 0 but not below 0.

Unless you depict some condition to tell one section from the next, there's no reliable way to "stop at the end of this list" as you require. Blank lines separating lists containing blank lines can work only if you can tell the exact number of blank lines per list.

Thank you so much again to both MadeInGermany & rudiC for getting almost everything correct. There is a minor need to print from 4th line as opposed to 1st due to the following reason on the actual data which is slightly different to the simplistic sporting interest example provided:

( i ) Line 1 is blank which I don't need
( ii ) Line 2 is the heading followed by a line of hyphens which act as underline of headers in line 2.

Otherwise, it is working remarkably well even though I still need to digest it properly for the moment.

The current workaround is as follows due to my lack of knowledge in how these Awks work still:

Code:

 
awk '!(c && c--) && /^ *$/ {p=0} p; /Sporting interest/ {p=1; c=1}' | sed -n '4,$p'
 
awk '{if ((c && c--)==0 && /^ *$/) {p=0}} {if (p!=0) {print}} {if (/Sporting interest/) {p=1; c=1}}' | sed -n '4,$p'

I have tried twikking either of the p & c variables without much luck.

Thanks a million for the persistent support,

George

Why don't you post a real life example with several sections each differing in composition? And, go to the extremes when it comes to the conditions to be met.

Hi RudiC,

The suggestion provided by MadeInGermany is already working. I simply need to print from line 4 to the end instead. Don't worry about it if this require much more work.

I hesitate to disclose people's confidential data which would require me to make a lot of changes first.

Thanks,

George

You can't really do this unless you have a proper end of section marker. If your end of section is a blank line but one of your values could sometimes be a blank as well then there's no way a script could figure out which one to parse.

Hi konsolebox,

Luckily, I have tested the suggested Awk solution on a few hundreds set of data and have found no such discrepancies you have highlighted. As a result, I am very pleased and greatful for everyone's valuable advices and efforts for providing a working solution.

Thanks,

George