UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Can we concatenate say,

I have a few files prefixing with 2009...

So now i want all the 2009 files into one single file..


Can this be achieved????

Yes. Just bear in mind that "cat" literally concatontates the contents of the files and the new file does not contain any file names or file separation whatsoever. If you need to preserve the separation of files, consider use "tar".

Code:

cat 2009* > file_containing_all_of_2009

Thanks Methyl...Can you also let me know How this "TAR" would exactly work in my scenario as well..Appreciate your help.

Obviously read "man tar" and be sure that you understand any limitations which may apply to your system. We know nothing about your system or the size of your files or the quantity of file or the reasoning behind your process.

This command creates a simple "tar" archive: Beware that this does not work on every Operating Systems and can collapse if there are too many files (e.g. with AIX).

Code:

tar -cvf file_containing_all_of_2009.tar 2009*

For AIX, you also get a -L flag on the tar command, so as a two step processes:-

Code:

ls 2009*> list_file
tar -cvf file_containing_all_of_2009.tar -L list_file

... or if that fails because 2009* expands too long, then you can

Code:

find . -name "2009*" > list_file
tar -cvf file_containing_all_of_2009.tar -L list_file

I hope that this helps.



Robin
Liverpool/Blackburn
UK