UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi guys,

I am working with large data sets and often times realize that not all of the columns are aligned correctly (sometimes rows will be shifted). So when I try to do something like:

Code:

 awk '{ if ($2 > 30 && $5 == $3){print}}' file > output

it won't really work since some of the rows are shifted. I am looking for a way to add whitespace to rows to realign them properly. So for example:

col1 col2 col3
file 455 664
go - 54


if the word "go" is present then add white space after it to realign "-" in column 2 and "54" in column 3. Does anyone know how to do this?

Assuming that having all of your columns output in the same size field works, this is a quick and dirty hack:

Code:

awk '
    $2 > 30 && $5 == $3 {
        for( i = 1; i <= NF; i++ )
            printf( "%5s ", $(i) );      # change to the 5 to be the size of each col in characters
        printf( "\n" );
    }
'

Your example input would be printed like this with the %5s used above:

Code:

 file   455   664 
   go     -    54

This also assumes you want all columns to be printed.

you're the man