Remove spaces from first field, and write entire contents into other text file


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Remove spaces from first field, and write entire contents into other text file
# 1  
Old 11-10-2008
Remove spaces from first field, and write entire contents into other text file

Hi all,

I have searched and found various threads about removing spaces from a field within a text file. Unfortunately, I have not found exactly what I'm looking for, nor am I adept enough to modify what I've found into what I need.
I use the following command to remove the first line from a text file (the column headers): sed 1d file > file2
I then want to strip the leading spaces from the first field only, but so far, all I can do is the following: cat file2 | awk '{print $1}' > file3
That successfully strips the spaces, but only gives me that one field. Since the number of fields could vary from day to day (an updated field is received every night, and additional fields are often added), how can I modify that script to ensure all fields are written to the new file with the spaces stripped only from the first field?

Thank you,
Carrie
# 2  
Old 11-10-2008

Code:
awk 'NR > 1 { gsub( /^ */, "" ); print }' file > file2

# 3  
Old 11-10-2008
This will strip all spaces from front of file and output to newfile:
Code:
sed 's/^ *//' /path/to/file > /path/to/newfile

# 4  
Old 11-11-2008
Excellent. Can I ask for one step further? Can you correct my syntax for a one-liner that will remove the leading spaces from every field? I have some db fields that specify for char of 9, but then they have only 6 or 7 characters within the field, so it fills in the extra spots with spaces. There are a few fields that I've had to script around to deal with this.

For the sed 's/^ *//' /path/to/file > /path/to/newfile, It looks as though this: /^ */ specifies the beginning of the line, and the 's means space, so I understand that it is stripping the spaces from the beginning of the line. The next problem I found is that a field further down in the list of fields may also need the leading spaces stripped. Problem is, the field number may change as more fields are added/removed, so I don't know what the field number will be on any given day - better to just strip 'em all.

Is there a way using the sed command to strip all leading spaces from all fields?

Thanks,
Carrie
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

10 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

Tip to remove line endings and spaces on a pre-formatted text file?

Hi, At the moment, using Notepad++ to do a search and replace, manually section by section which is real painful. Yeah, so copying each section of the line of text and putting into a file and then search and replace, need at least 3-operations in Notepad++. Here's hoping I will be able to... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: newbie_01
1 Replies

2. Shell Programming and Scripting

Replacing entire fields with specific text at end or beginning of field

Greetings. I've got a csv file with data along these lines: Spumoni's Pizza Place, Placemats n Things, Just Lamps Counterfeit Dollars by Vinnie, Just Shades, Dollar StoreI want to replace the entire comma-delimited field if it matches something ending in "Place" or beginning with "Dollar",... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: palmfrond
2 Replies

3. Shell Programming and Scripting

How to remove empty field in a text file?

Hi all, I want to remove empty field in a text file. I tried to used sed. But it failed. Input: LG10_PM_map_19_LEnd 1000560 G AG AG LG10_PM_map_19_LEnd 1005621 G AG LG10_PM_map_19_LEnd 1011214 A AG AG LG10_PM_map_19_LEnd 1011673 T CT CT ... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: huiyee1
3 Replies

4. Shell Programming and Scripting

Read text between regexps and write into files based on a field in the text

Hi, I have a huge file that has data something like shown below: huge_file.txt start regexp Name=Name1 Title=Analyst Address=Address1 Department=Finance end regexp some text some text start regexp Name=Name2 Title=Controller Address=Address2 Department=Finance end regexp (7 Replies)
Discussion started by: r3d3
7 Replies

5. Shell Programming and Scripting

Remove spaces from between words that are in a field

Hi all, Is there a sed/awk cmd that will remove blank space from between words in a particular field, replacing with a single space? Field containing 'E's in the example below: Example input file: AAAAA AA|BBBB|CCCCCCC|DDDDDD |EEEE EEEEEE| FFF FFFFF| ... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: dendright
6 Replies

6. Shell Programming and Scripting

Subsituting contents of entire file to middle of another file using awk

Hi I have a data file 'File2' consisting of 105670 lines. I want to copy and paste 17928 lines from 'File1' to 'File2' but I want to place it in between lines 21 and 17950 of 'File2'. How do I do it in awk? For example- File A has 5 lines X Y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and File B has A b... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: ananyob
1 Replies

7. Shell Programming and Scripting

Subsituting contents of entire file to middle of another file using awk

Hi I have a data file 'File2' consisting of 105670 lines. I want to copy and paste 17928 lines from 'File1' to 'File2' but I want to place it in between lines 21 and 17950 of 'File2'. How do I do it in awk? For example- File A has 5 lines X Y 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 and File B has A b... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: ananyob
1 Replies

8. UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Copy entire contents of file to clipboard

Hi, I am trying to figure out how to copy the contents of a file to the clipboard, then paste into a command. i.e copy contents of file /path/filename.txt to <command> <paste text> Hope that makes sense. Basically tryting to copy the text for use in a command without having to open the... (8 Replies)
Discussion started by: JCA70
8 Replies

9. Shell Programming and Scripting

Remove blank spaces in a text file...

Hi, I have this problem that there are blank spaces in my text file... i want to remove them line 1 line 2 line 3 I want to remove the space between line 2 and line 3... I tried sed... it work but it prints the whole text file at the command prompt which i dont want.... sde i tried was... (4 Replies)
Discussion started by: bhagya2340
4 Replies

10. Shell Programming and Scripting

Removing the entire file contents using unix shell script.

I need to remove the entire file contents in file using the shell script. Actually the grap -v command will create one more file and it occupy the space also. I need to remove the entire file contents without creating new file using the shell scripting. Please help me. (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: praka
5 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question