UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

COUNT=1
grep -A 5 pattern file | while read line
do
   CURRENT=`expr $COUNT % 6`
   if [ 0 -ne $CURRENT ]
   then
     # convert newlines to spaces if not the 6th line  
     tr "\n" " " < $line >> outputfile
   else
     # retain the newline when $COUNT % 6 = 0 -- every 6th line
     echo $line >> output.txt
   fi
   COUNT=$COUNT+1
done

TARGET
13/11/08
20:43:21
POINT 1
MOVE 8
772102y64312417771
TARGET
13/11/08
21:10:01
POINT 2
MOVE 5
731623jjd12njhd

TARGET 13/11/08 20:43:21 POINT 1 MOVE 8
TARGET 13/11/08 21:10:01 POINT 2 MOVE 5

line 6: [: -ne: unary operator expected 
expr: non-numeric argument

#!/bin/sh
# create the output file
touch outputfile
# set the var
COUNT=1
# grep and feed to loop
grep -A 5 TARGET testdata | while read line
do
   # set the line tracking var
   CURRENT=`expr $COUNT % 6`
   if [ 0 -ne $CURRENT ]  # are we on the 6th line?
   then
     # convert newlines to spaces if not the 6th line
     echo $line | tr "\n" " " >> outputfile
   else
     # retain the newline when $COUNT % 6 = 0 -- every 6th line
     echo $line >> outputfile
   fi
   # increment the counter
   COUNT=`expr $COUNT + 1`
done

grep -A 4 TARGET file_name|sed '/--/d'|awk '{for (i=1; i <=2; i++) printf($i"%c",OFS)}'|sed 's/TARGET/\nTARGET/g'|tr -s " "

TARGET 13/11/08 20:43:21 POINT 1 MOVE 8
TARGET 13/11/08 21:10:01 POINT 2 MOVE 5