UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I am new to shell scripting. I am interested how to know how to sort a content of a file using shell scripting.

I've attached the 'Input file' and the 'expected output' to this thread.

Details provided in the expected output file will provide details on how the sort needs to be done.

Basically I need the count (in many parts) of the data in the output. The input file contains 565075 entries hence the addition of all the count of <application> should be equal to 565075 (refer to output file attached for details).

Help me!

What you want to achieve is way beyond sorting. So, text manipulation languages like awk, perl etc. would be candidates. And, I'd propose you put the specification to your request into the post, not into an attached file.

I am unable to use 'awk'. I would not be interested to use perl here. I would like this to be done on an unix environment using a shell script. Someone please help me with the output script.

Is this a homework assignment? Posts requesting help and not allowing use of utilities like awk (which is a standard UNIX utility available on all UNIX and Linux systems) frequently means that your professor is placing certain restriction on the tools to be used for an assignment. Homework assignments must follow the rules for the homework forum.

If this is not a homework assignment, as RudiC suggested, please post the requirements for your task in a post; not hidden in two attached files that will consume over 1.75Mb of space on the system of any volunteers here who might be willing to help you solve your problem.

From a distance, putting the data into an associative array intrinsically sorts it. Putting it intoa normal, integer indexed array allows you to sort it using simple sorts like the bubble sort or a bisection insertion sort.

The right solution is divining what the professor wants. Better is OK if prof has a sense of humor or honor.

Here is the sample input.

Code:

fap0089-josh.baker
fap00233-adrian.edwards
fap00293-bob.boyle
fap00293-bob.jones
fap002-brian.lopez
fap00293-colby.morris
fap00293-cole.mitchell
psf0354-SKOWALSKI
psf0354-SLEE
psf0382-SLOWE
psf0391-SNOMURA
psf0354-SPATEL
psf0364-SRICHARDS
psf0354-SSEIBERT
psf0354-SSIRAH
bsi0004-STRAN
bsi0894-STURBIC
unit054-SUNDERWOOD
user1
user2

Here, the data is of the format <app><env>-<user>

bsi, fap, unit etc are 'app'
the numeric following the app name is the 'env'
the name after the hypen is the 'user'

There might also be other values not of the format given above. e.g user1,user2

I need the data to be sorted in the following format

Code:

app name            number of env          total count
-----------            ----------------           ------------

NOTE : If 'app' value is fap,bsi etc, it should list all the unique environments in the 'env' column. e.g: the value of env is 5 for app name 'fap' as the number of unique env for fap is 5.

Total count should give the number of entries under the particular app. e.g: fap = 6, bsi = 2

The entries not falling under any app (not of the format '<app><env>-<user>'), e.g: user1, user2 should be put under the separate count list named 'non-app'. Here, the non-app count is 2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have 565075 entries which needs to be sorted. A sample script which will sort entries for such huge input will help me.

This is not a homework. I'm running my own business and this will help me with it.

Badly require this forum's expert help!

Moderator's Comments:

Please use CODE tags for all sample input, output, and code samples. Without CODE tags, sequences of spaces and tabs are converted to a single space by normal HTML processing.

For the sample input in post #6, what is the output that you want from sorting that sample input data?

And, again, why can't you use awk for this? It seems that it would be very helpful for this assignment.