UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

(
lim=3 IFS=$IFS')(' v1ct=0 v2ct=0 v3ct=0 v1last=x v2last=x v3last=x
 
while read x1 v1 x2 v2 x3 v3
do
 if [ "$v1" != "$v1last" ]
 then
  v1last="$v1"
  (( v1ct++ ))
 fi
 
 
 if [ "$v2" != "$v2last" ]
 then
  v2last="$v2"
  (( v2ct++ ))
 fi
 
 if [ "$v3" != "$v3last" ]
 then
  v3last="$v3"
  (( v3ct++ ))
 fi
 
 if (( v1ct <= lim ))
 then
  echo "$x1 ($v1)\c"
 fi
 
 echo "\t\c"
 
 if [ "$x2" != "" ]
 then
  if (( v2ct <= lim ))
  then
   echo "$x2 ($v2)\c"
  fi
 fi
 
echo "\t\c"
 
 if [ "$x3" != "" ]
 then
  if (( v3ct <= lim ))
  then
   echo "$x3 ($v3)"
  fi
 fi
 
 echo
 
done | sed 's/\t$//'
) < in_file