UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi,

I have a file like this:

tag1:value1
tag2:value2
tag3:value3

tag1:value1
tag2:value2
tag3:value3

tag1:value1
tag2:value2
tag3:value3

and what i want is:

value1 value2 value3
value1 value2 value3
value1 value2 value3

that is extract a set of values from paragraphs and append thoses values into a delimited list, one row per paragraph. I then intend to use awk to format the data in the rows in multiple ways.

any tips? I've struggled with various sed and awk ideas for hours and not getting anywhere fast.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Nick

sed -e '/./N;s/\n/ /g;;/./N;s/\n/ /g;s/tag.://g;/^$/d' file name
try this.. i din't get your full problem..

Your example is not clear. Do you mean x1:a1 x2:b1 x3:c1 x1:a2 x2:b2 x3:c2 should map to a1 a2; b1 b2; c1 c2, or what?

Code:

awk -F : '{ tag[$1] = tag[$1] " " $2 } END { for (t in tag) print tag[t] }' file

There will be a leading space on the output lines; it can be avoided, of course, but maybe it's simpler to just post-process the output if necessary.

Sorry for not explaining it clearly. Having looked at your examples I don't think they quite meet what I wanted, but they're not far off. so..

I have a file that contains a set of repeating paragraphs , seperated by an empty line, like this:

layer:1
property1:x1
property2:y1
property3:z1

layer:2
property1:x2
property2:y2
property3:z2

layer:3
...

what I want is for a new file to be created with one row per paragraph, contining just the values of each paragraph . i.e.

1 x1 y1 z1
2 x2 y2 z2
3 x3 y3 z3

does this clarify the problem?

sed -e '/./N;s/\n/ /g;/./N;s/\n/ /g;/./N;s/\n/ /g;s/*.://g;/^$/d' filename
will it do??

Code:

#  cut -d":" -f2 file | paste - - - -
value1  value2  value3
value1  value2  value3
value1  value2  value3

where file =

Code:

value1
value2
value3

value1
value2
value3

value1
value2
value3

The simple ones are the best Tytalus!

I need 31 '-' in my paste but, it'll make the code far easier to maintain in the future.

I geuss this only works if i have a consistent set of value's in a paragraph though - which I do - so it's great.

Doesn't help me get my head around sed and awk though!

many thanks for your help.