UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have several files (around 50) that have the similar format. I need to extract the 5th line from every file and output that into a text file. So far, I have been able to figure out how to do it for a single file:

$ awk 'NR==5' text1.txt > results.txt
OR
$ sed -n '5p' text1.txt > results.txt
OR
$ head -n5 text1.txt | tail -1 > results.txt

However, if I replace "text1.txt" with *.txt and run it across 50 files, I only get the result of the last file. How do I get the results of all files?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Code:

$ awk 'NR==5' *.txt >> results.txt

This didn't work.

I think it's because the ">>" only appends if you have several outputs, whereas the ">" replaces if you have several outputs.
The awk command you posted (and the other commands I have) only produce one output even when it spans across several files.

Try:

Code:

$ awk 'FNR==5' *.txt > results.txt

Thanks! That helped a lot! Not to be a pain, but would you know how to format it so all the results don't appear on one line?

Hmmm.. they shouldn't appear on one line. Post your some sample of your input file.

----------------------------------------------
INF: File: 11.hst
INF: Completion time: 00:00:41 Records/Second: 48

INF: Total Number of Records in File(s): 2005
INF: Number of Records Included in Analysis: 2005
INF: Number of Records Excluded from Analysis: 0


That's a sample from one input file. There's more, but I'm interested in the 5th line from about 40-something more...

---------- Post updated at 04:11 PM ---------- Previous update was at 04:08 PM ----------

OK. I feel extremely stupid. It was my text editor. The file formats just fine... Thanks for all your help Bartus!