Shell Programming and Scripting

hi, unix gurus.

i am trying to read a file that has records in this format...

x<group_id>:::<member1a>,<member1b>,<member1c>
x<group_id>:::<member2a>,<member2b>,<member2c>

... and to put it in this format:

<member1a>
<member1b>
<member1c>
<member2a>
<member2b>
<member2c>

with the code i have now, i am able to extract these records from the 4th field and direct them into a file. for example, this command:

Code:

my_script group_id group_id

gives me a file that looks like this:

<member1a>,<member1b>,<member1c>
<member2a>,<member2b>,<member2c>

here's my code:

Code:

# Validate Groups
for group_id; do
  a=$(grep "^x$group_id:" group_file)
  if [ -z "$a" ]; then
    print "value not in group_file"
  continue
  fi

# Get Group Members and Direct Into File
  f4=$(echo $a | cut -d: -f4)
  if [ -z "$f4" ]; then
    print "This group_id does not have any members."
  else
    print $f4, >> member_list.txt
  continue
  fi
done

is it wiser for me to parse $f4, and using a loop, direct each member into a file? or should i cut my generated file, member_list.txt, and pipe that into a new file?

it seems like it would be cleaner to parse $f4. if i am able to do so, i wonder if anyone has any tips on the syntax?

thanks for your help!

Perhaps:

Code:

    print $f4 | tr ',' '\n' >> member_list.txt

that is sweet! thanks a lot.

You can also use sed

Code:

$ sed -e 's/^.*::://;s/[,$]/\
/g' file
<member1a>
<member1b>
<member1c>
<member2a>
<member2b>
<member2c>
$