Join lines in a file????


 
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# 1  
Old 04-15-2013
Linux Join lines in a file????

Hello UNIX gurus, I am new to the world of UNIX. Hopefully I am submitting my question at the right forum. Here is my dilemma -

I have a file with contents like this -
"line1","Hello","World","Today is a wonderful day","yes it is"
"line2","Hello","World","Today is a
beautiful day","oh yeah"
"line3","Hello","World","Today is a great
day","right you are"
"line4","Hello","World","Today is really an awesome day","you can say that again"

you may have observed that some of the records do not appear in a single line. For example line2 and line3 have broken off and a part of them is in a different line. I am desperately looking for a way to join these broken records so that I can have them in a single line. Is there a command I can use which will read the records in a file, then correct the broken lines and then create a file with proper records? I hope this is possible. Please help.
# 2  
Old 04-15-2013
Assuming all lines should end with a double quote "
Code:
awk '/\"$/{ORS=RS}!/\"$/{ORS=FS}1' file

# 3  
Old 04-15-2013
Thanks for the reply Yoda! But I'm a young apprentice. Could you please explain the command also.
# 4  
Old 04-15-2013
Code:
awk '
        /\"$/ {                 # Check if record end $ with double quotes "
                ORS = RS        # If yes, set Output Record Separator to Input Record Separator, by default a newline.
        }

        !/\"$/ {                # Check if record does not ! end $ with double quotes "
                ORS = FS        # If yes, set Output Record Separator to Input Field Separator, by default a space.
        }

        {
                print $0        # Print current record.
        }
' file

Note that ORSRSFS are awk built-in variables. Check man pages for more information:
Code:
man awk

# 5  
Old 04-15-2013
Would /"$/ work the same as /\"$/ RE? Seems to work when I tested. No big deal. Just wondering if any difference.
# 6  
Old 04-15-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by hanson44
Would /"$/ work the same as /\"$/ RE? Seems to work when I tested. No big deal. Just wondering if any difference.
You are right. Escaping double quote is not necessary. Smilie
# 7  
Old 04-15-2013
I tried the follwing command but didn't work-
awk '/\"$/{ORS=RS}!/\"$/{ORS=FS}1' good_day.txt > good_day_1.txt

What I got was, except for the first line, all the lines now have space in front of them

good_day.txt =
"line1","Hello","World","Today is a wonderful day","yes it is"
"line2","Hello","World","Today is a
beautiful day","oh yeah"
"line3","Hello","World","Today is a great
day","right you are"
"line4","Hello","World","Today is really an awesome day","you can say that again"

good_day_1.txt =
"line1","Hello","World","Today is a wonderful day","yes it is"
"line2","Hello","World","Today is a
beautiful day","oh yeah"
"line3","Hello","World","Today is a great
day","right you are"
"line4","Hello","World","Today is really an awesome day","you can say that again"

What am I missing?

I want good_day_1 to appear like this -
"line1","Hello","World","Today is a wonderful day","yes it is"
"line2","Hello","World","Today is a beautiful day","oh yeah"
"line3","Hello","World","Today is a great day","right you are"
"line4","Hello","World","Today is really an awesome day","you can say that again"
 
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