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How to insert a word into a text file?

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# 1  
Old 11-14-2013
How to insert a word into a text file?
Hi,

I have a text file with one line having few words separated by space and I need to insert another word on "n"th column/field so that previous word should shift right (to n+1st column). how can I do that?

It seems we can do using awk but unable to figure out.

Please advise, thanks!

Code:
#cat file1
aaa bbb ccc ddd

Code:
#script.sh file1 new-word 2  (  2 indicates column number)
#cat file1
aaa new-word bbb ccc ddd

# 2  
Old 11-14-2013
You could set script.sh to something like:
Code:
awk -v w="$2" -v f="$3" '{$f = w OFS $f}1' "$1"

but, of course, you should add some error checking to be sure that all of the operands are present, the 1st is the name of an existing file, and that the last one is a numeric string.

If you want to try this on a Solaris/SunOS system, change awk to /usr/xpg4/bin/awk, /usr/xpg6/bin/awk, or nawk.
# 3  
Old 11-14-2013
Below will replace the file in-place as requested. Note this is usually not recommended and most unix utilities require you to output to new file.

Code:
trap 'rm -f /tmp/$$_newcol; exit' EXIT 1 2 3 15
awk -v w="$2" -v f="$3" '{$f = w OFS $f}1' "$1" > /tmp/$$_newcol && mv /tmp/$$_newcol "$1"

This User Gave Thanks to Chubler_XL For This Post:
Don Cragun
# 4  
Old 11-15-2013
How about the good ole and trusty ex...
Code:
ex -sc 's/aaa/& new-word/ | wq' file1

# 5  
Old 11-15-2013
hi shamrock

what is purpose of 1here which is in red color
Code:
awk -v w="$2" -v f="$3" '{$f = w OFS $f}1'"$1"

# 6  
Old 11-15-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by pallvi_mahajan
hi shamrock

what is purpose of 1here which is in red color
awk -v w="$2" -v f="$3" '{$f = w OFS $f}1' "$1"
Instead of writing print 1 is used there, if you remove 1 you won't be able to see any output
# 7  
Old 11-15-2013
so we can use 1 in place of print in awk or it is specified one
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