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Problems with delimiters

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# 1  
Old 07-10-2008
Problems with delimiters
Hello,

I have data in a file something like this -

UNB+UNOA:1+006415160:1+AR0000012360:ZZ+080701:0552+2++DELFOR++++T'UNH+2+DELFORSmilie:97A:UN

Here, the delimiters used are + , : and ' . I have a set of such files in which these delimiters vary from one file to another.

I am developing a shell script which needs to take certain values from fields in this file depending on their positions which I will be doing it with the help of cut command.

My problem is how to find these varying delimiters from file to file. Means, in every file , how can i find out what is the delimiter after UNB(here +) , after UNOA (here Smilie or before UNH (here '). I will store them in variables & then search for my required fields.

Please help me. It is very urgent.
# 2  
Old 07-10-2008
Question what if just change all the delimiters to one character?
Is there a reason for some many different delimiters? Why not change the + to | then the : to | then the ' to | ? Then, your file would be consistent.

Code:
> echo $inp
UNB+UNOA:1+006415160:1+AR0000012360:ZZ+080701:0552+2++DELFOR++++T'UNH+2+DELFOR:97A:UN
> echo $inp | tr "+" "|" | tr ":" "|" | tr "'" "|"
UNB|UNOA|1|006415160|1|AR0000012360|ZZ|080701|0552|2||DELFOR||||T|UNH|2|DELFOR|97A|UN

Last edited by joeyg; 07-10-2008 at 01:04 PM.. Reason: added sample unix code
# 3  
Old 07-10-2008
Exactly. Create a "filter". Make all delimiters consistent (1 delimiter) then use that output to do your cuts, etc.

InputWithManyDelimiters | filterScript | cut -fn -d "~" where "~" is what ever delimiter you choose as the cannoical one.... "~" (tilde) is a good one at least for English because the character is not commonly used in data...
# 4  
Old 07-10-2008
.... or specify multiple delimeters/FieldSeparators with 'awk'
# 5  
Old 07-10-2008
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeyg
... Why not change the + to | then the : to | then the ' to | ? Then, your file would be consistent.

Code:
> ...
> echo $inp | tr "+" "|" | tr ":" "|" | tr "'" "|"

Useless Use Of tr Smilie
Code:
> echo $inp | tr ":|+|'" "|"

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