UNIX for Beginners Questions & Answers

COLUMN_A|COLUMN_B|COLUMN_C
001|AAAAAA|YUYWD
002|ABCOHFOHNFN|DLDLULDNSFHCLYHNDJK
003|BCXSOHNSN|XCDFHNSH
004|ZBDIWUFHOJKSJF|DGFTSVVCD
005|ZXSEDTRWEF|XCDFHNSHDGFTSVVCD

nbrofcols=`head -1 $1 | awk -F'|' '{print NF;}'`
cat /dev/null > nbrofcols.txt
for ((i = 1; i <= $nbrofcols; i++));
do
  awk 'NR>1' $1 | awk -F"|" ' length("$i") > len { len=length("$i") } END { print len } ';
done >> nbrofcols.txt
:

COLUMN_A: 3
COLUMN_B: 14
COLUMN_C: 19

awk -F\| '
        NR == 1 {
                for ( i = 1; i <= NF; i++ )
                        hdr_col[i] = $i
        }
        NR > 1 {
                for ( i = 1; i <= NF; i++ )
                        max_col[i] = ( length($i) > max_col[i] ? length($i) : max_col[i] )
        }
        END {
                for ( i = 1; i <= NF; i++ )
                        print hdr_col[i] ":" max_col[i]
        }
' filename

awk: syntax error near line 8
awk: illegal statement near line 8

SunOS apiaifodb01 5.10 Generic_150400-52 sun4u sparc SUNW,SPARC-Enterprise