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Issue with paste command

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# 1  
Old 11-20-2014
Issue with paste command
Hi,

I am facing issue with paste command. It is adding spaces or tab in between.

I have say 3 files with below data

File_1
Code:
TH
THI
THIS I

File_2
Code:
IS IS 
S IS RE
S

File_3
Code:
RECORD 1
CORD 2
IS RECORD 3

Output should be
Code:
THIS IS RECORD 1
THIS IS RECORD 2
THIS IS RECORD 3

Initially I used the command -
Code:
paste File_1 File_2 File_3 > outfile

This added spaces and tabs.

Then I changed the command to
Code:
paste -d '\0' File_1 File_2 File_3 > outfile

This is giving some weird result where data from file 1 is missing also a special character / is coming in between.

Please help in resolving this issue.

Thanks in advance!!!
Last edited by rbatte1; 11-24-2014 at 10:57 AM.. Reason: Spelling
# 2  
Old 11-20-2014
What OS and shell are you using?

When I try your command:
Code:
paste -d '\0' File_1 File_2 File_3 > outfile

or:
Code:
paste -d '\0\0\n' File_1 File_2 File_3 > outfile

I get the output you said you wanted, except that the 3rd line of the output is:
Code:
THIS ISIS RECORD 3

instead of:
Code:
THIS IS RECORD 3

And, with the three input files you supplied, this seems to be correct to me.
# 3  
Old 11-20-2014
Shouldn't you remove the ASCII zeroes from the result file?
# 4  
Old 11-20-2014
Quote:
Originally Posted by RudiC
Shouldn't you remove the ASCII zeroes from the result file?
No ASCII zeroes are added by the command:
Code:
paste -d '\0' File_1 File_2 File_3 > outfile

From the current description of the paste -d option in the standards:
Code:
...

When the −s option is not specified:
• The <newline> characters in the file specified by the last file operand shall
not be modified.
• The delimiter shall be reset to the first element of list each time a line is
processed from each file.
If a <backslash> character appears in list, it and the character following it shall be
used to represent the following delimiter characters:
\n	<newline>.
\t	<tab>.
\\	<backslash> character.
\0	Empty string (not a null character). If ’\0’ is immediately followed by the
	character ’x’, the character ’X’, or any character defined by the LC_CTYPE
	digit keyword (see XBD Chapter 7, on page 135), the results are unspecified.

If any other characters follow the <backslash>, the results are unspecified.

Note also that, at least on some implementations, the seemingly obvious:
Code:
paste -d '' File_1 File_2 File_3 > outfile

produces the diagnostic message:
Code:
paste: no delimiters specified

and an exit status of 1. (This result is copied from OS X Version 10.10.1.)
Last edited by Don Cragun; 11-20-2014 at 03:04 PM.. Reason: Add note re: why not just use -d ''
This User Gave Thanks to Don Cragun For This Post:
RudiC
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