UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

awk '{ c = NF-1; for (i=1; i<=NF; i++)
$i = i == NF ? $i : $i (OFS = $1 ? OFS : "") c--
}1' FS="XXX" filename

awk '{ c = NF-1; for (i=1; i<=NF; i++)
$i = i == NF ? $i : $i (OFS = $1 ? OFS : "") c--
}1' FS="XXX" RS= filename

#!/usr/bin/perl
eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -S $0 ${1+"$@"}'
    if $running_under_some_shell;
                        # this emulates #! processing on NIH machines.
                        # (remove #! line above if indigestible)

eval '$'.$1.'$2;' while $ARGV[0] =~ /^([A-Za-z_0-9]+=)(.*)/ && shift;
                        # process any FOO=bar switches

$[ = 1;                 # set array base to 1
$FS = ' ';              # set field separator
$, = ' ';               # set output field separator
$\ = "\n";              # set output record separator

$FS = 'XXX';
$/ = "\n\n";

while (<>) {
    chomp;      # strip record separator
    @Fld = split($FS, $_, -1);
    $c = $#Fld - 1;
    for ($i = 1; $i <= $#Fld; $i++) {
        $Fld[$i] = $i == $#Fld ? $Fld[$i] : $Fld[$i] . ($, = $Fld[1] ? $,

          : '') . $c--;
    }
    print join($,,@Fld);
}