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grepping columns

 
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# 1  
Old 02-27-2008
grepping columns
Hi All,

I was recently helped out 'big time' with my last post on changing multiple file formats (thx, scott1256ca and bakunin)!

My new question is about selecting and displaying columns in a file using (possibly) grep. Several of my data files are spreadsheet format (columns separated by tabs). So for instance lets say I have four columns of data:

Quote:
#1 2 3 4
a b c d
a b c d
a b c d
a b c d
.
.
.
If I wanted to redirect only the 1st and 3rd column to a file, would this be possible with grep? Some other command or script?

Cheers,
ScKaSx
# 2  
Old 02-27-2008
Try...
Code:
awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="\t"}{print $1,$3}' file1 > file2

# 3  
Old 02-28-2008
cut command can capture the columns you wanted

try
Quote:
man cut
Quote:
cut -d"<delimiter - \t>" -f1,3 file1 > file2
# 4  
Old 02-28-2008
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the info:

Ygor - I got 'awk' to work on the "a_b_c_d file" but when I try it on a file with numbers it lists all the columns as opposed to just the ones I specify with '{print $1,$3}'.

Can anyone explain the awk command to me?

bobbygsk - I tried the cut command but I couldn't get it to work. It complains
Quote:
cut: bad delimiter
Cheers,
ScKaSx
# 5  
Old 02-28-2008
Post a snippet of your file with the numbers and the expected output.

Regards
# 6  
Old 02-28-2008
Hi,

Let's say I have the following file:

Code:
   5000.00     2.387       0     1704      19.1      27.2     0.350     0.350    0.0031     17      18      0.00
   3721.90     2.178       0     1003      23.5      33.9     0.350     0.350    0.0133     10      11      0.00
   2770.51     2.009       0      675      30.6      46.3     0.350     0.350    0.0021      7       8      0.00
   2062.31     1.884       0      983      36.8      51.7     0.350     0.350    0.0085     11      12      0.00
   1535.15     1.783       0      493      46.8      71.7     0.350     0.350    0.0070      6       7      0.00
   1142.73     1.710       0      438      51.9      86.1     0.350     0.350    0.0001      6       7      0.00
    850.63     1.662       1      245      46.0      80.6     0.350     0.350    0.0046      5       4      0.00

and I want it just to print out the 1st and 6th column (for instance):

Code:
   5000.00     27.2     
   3721.90     33.9     
   2770.51     46.3     
   2062.31     51.7     
   1535.15     71.7     
   1142.73     86.1     
    850.63     80.6

Also, I would prefer details on how to use the command as opposed to a solution to this problem, seeing how I will likely need to use it for other purposes.

Also is there an 'easy' way to rearrange columns?

Cheers,
ScKaSx
Last edited by ScKaSx; 02-28-2008 at 04:17 PM..
# 7  
Old 02-28-2008
The solution of Igor should work, just print the column in any order you prever, to print the 1st and the 6th column:

Code:
awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS="\t"}{print $1,$6}' file1 > file2

Try it out without redirect the output to a file with different order and see how it works.

Regards
 
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