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"read" command ignoring leading spaces

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# 1  
Old 01-19-2009
"read" command ignoring leading spaces
I have to read a file line by line, change it and then update the file. Problem is, when i read the file, "read" command ignores leading spaces.
The file is a script which is indented in many places for clarity. How to i make "read" command read leading spaces as well.
# 2  
Old 01-19-2009
Tbh, I have no idea how to preserve leading spaces when reading a file with "read". Maybe awk or sed can do the job too; can you post a glimpse of the input and desired output? Please use [ code ] and [ /code ] tags if you do so to preserve special characters, etc. and for readability, ty.
# 3  
Old 01-19-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by vickylife
I have to read a file line by line, change it and then update the file. Problem is, when i read the file, "read" command ignores leading spaces.
The file is a script which is indented in many places for clarity. How to i make "read" command read leading spaces as well.
You should modify the current IFS in order to achieve that.
Something like:

Code:
while IFS= read -r ...

Notice that some read implementations do not support the -r option.
This User Gave Thanks to radoulov For This Post:
gOLdenHaWK3D
# 4  
Old 03-24-2009
Just would like to post a 'thank you' to radulov: After more than 1 year I found this thread and it exactly ansvering the question.
The option EFS= is works perfect (at least in my system) (the -r is not nessesary here)
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