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Help with cut or awk command

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# 1  
Old 07-08-2014
Help with cut or awk command
i am trying to cut the 4th field from the file.
sample file
Code:
a1,a2,"a,3",a4,a5,a6
b1,"b,2",b3,b4,b5,b6
c1,"c,2","c,3",c4,c5,c6

i need the output in the format of
Code:
a1,a2,"a,3",a5,a6
b1,"b,2",b3,b5,b6
c1,"c,2","c,3",c5,c6

i tried using cut -d, -f1-4,6-
but i am getting the output as
Code:
a1,a2,"a,3",a5,a6
b1,"b,2",b3,b5,b6
c1,"c,2","c,c4,c5,c6

which is wrong. any other method to do this correctly?
# 2  
Old 07-08-2014
For your input file, try:-
Code:
awk -F, '{$(NF-2)=$(NF-1) FS $NF;NF-=2}1' OFS=, file

This User Gave Thanks to Yoda For This Post:
PikK45
# 3  
Old 07-08-2014
can you please explain how the command awk works?
# 4  
Old 07-08-2014
Tricky part is that commas may be present within the field (that's why the quotes)
Yoda's solution will not work for files that have more than 6 columns, or files that have commas in the last two fields. E.g. file
Code:
a1,a2,"a,3",a4,a5,a6
b1,"b,2",b3,b4,b5,"b6,b999",b10
c1,"c,2","c,3",c4,c5,c6

will become
Code:
$ awk -F, '{$(NF-2)=$(NF-1) FS $NF;NF-=2}1' OFS=, file
a1,a2,"a,3",a5,a6
b1,"b,2",b3,b4,b5,b999",b10
c1,"c,2","c,3",c5,c6

Probably not what you want.

I would suggest the following approach:
1. protect the comma within quotes by substituting it with some character
2. get rid of the 4th field
3. substitute the protect character with comma to get back the original

Try this solution:
Code:
sed  's/"\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\)"/"\1\x1C\2"/g' file  | awk -F, '{$4 = ""}1' OFS=, | sed 's/,,/,/g ; s/\x1C/,/g'

Explanation:
Code:
sed  's/"\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\)"/"\1\x1C\2"/g' file  # replace commas within quotes with \x1C (non-ascii character unlikely to be in your file)
awk -F, '{$4 = ""}1' OFS=,                        # strip the fourth field -- now it is safe to split them by commas
sed 's/,,/,/g ; s/\x1C/,/g'                       # get rid of double commas and replace \x1C back to comma for quoted commas

# 5  
Old 07-08-2014
It cuts fields from right to left.
Yet hard-coded to the 3rd field from right.
And not all awk versions empty the fields by modifying NF.
I have put a more general awk solution to your previous post that can be easily adapted.
Last edited by MadeInGermany; 07-09-2014 at 03:33 PM..
# 6  
Old 07-09-2014
Below code will work to remove any field > 2. You need to provide the number of fields and number of the field to be removed

Code:
awk 'BEGIN{FS = OFS = "\""}
  {for(i=1; i<=NF; i+=2) {
    gsub(/,/, "\n", $i)}}1' file | awk '{
 if(NR == RM_FLD) {next};
 if(NR == FLD_CNT)
   {t = $0; getline;
   printf "%s\n%s", t, $0;
   NR = 1; f = 1; next}
 if(NR == 2 && f == 1)
   {printf "%s%s%s", ORS, $0, ORS;
   next}}1' ORS=',' RM_FLD=4 FLD_CNT=6

Last edited by SriniShoo; 07-09-2014 at 02:16 AM.. Reason: clear description
# 7  
Old 07-09-2014
need to replace comma only inside the " "(double qoutes)
sample file.
Code:
a1,a2,"a,3,12",a4,a5,a6,a7,"a,8","","",a9,a10,a11,"","",a12
b1,"b,2",b3,b4,b5,b6,"b,7",b8,"","",b9,"",b11,"","",b11
c1,"c,2","c,3",c4,c5,c6,c7,c8,"","","c,9",c10,c11,"","",c12

needed output
Code:
a1,a2,"a312",a4,a5,a6,a7,"a8","","",a9,a10,a11,"","",a12
b1,"b2",b3,b4,b5,b6,"b7",b8,"","",b9,"",b11,"","",b11
c1,"c2","c3",c4,c5,c6,c7,c8,"","","c9",c10,c11,"","",c12

i am using the command sed 's/"\([^,]*\),\([^,]*\)"/"\1\x1C\2"/g'
getting the output as
Code:
a1,a2,"a312",a4,a5,a6,a7,"a8","""",a9,a10,a11,"""",a12
b1,"b2",b3,b4,b5,b6,"b7",b8,"""",b9,"",b11,"""",b11
c1,"c2","c3",c4,c5,c6,c7,c8,"""","c9",c10,c11,"""",c12

Last edited by ATWC; 07-09-2014 at 03:32 PM..
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