convert line feeds to pipe char & reformat 1

[kasparov]

I have a file which consists of repeated field values on separate lines. I want to convert it so that the values are on the same line separated by a pipe char (& then a new line for each new record). e.g. my original file is

4
The Beatles
Liverpool
5
The Rolling Stones
London
3
The Who
London

and I want it to look like:

4|The Beatles|Liverpool
5|The Rolling Stones|London
3|The Who|London

The only way I can think of doing this is to use split (to split into a series of files 3 lines long); tr (to translate the end of line char to '|'; cat (to put the files back together. But I know this is a poor way of doing it. I'm guessing there's a way to do the same in awk, or maybe use sed somehow - but my skills don't go that far.

Can anyone suggest an efficient - & hopefully understandable/maintainable - way of doing it?

Thanks, Chris

 

[feherke]

Hi

awk '{ORS=NR%3?"|":"\n"}1' /input/file

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[kasparov]

That is great - thank you feherke.

I know I should learn tools like awk properly but I find the syntax baffling. Thank you

 

[sharma29]

<b>Is there something to say start processing at line 2 – eg </b>

Header Record
4
The Beatles
Liverpool
5
The Rolling Stones
London
3
The Who
London

<b>And the result be </b>

Header Record
4|The Beatles|Liverpool
5|The Rolling Stones|London
3|The Who|London

Thanks in advance.

 

[sharma29]

The file has following type of data and need to reformat it

"3P" "1" "" "28-AUG-1900"
"REV"
"5674023"
"97418"
"6946311"
""
"TRAINING SOLUTIONS LTD"
"REV"
"940000"
"97419"
"6907016"
""
"MR CN SIA GILL"

Need the file to formatted like the following

"3P" "1" "" "28-AUG-1900"
"REV"|"5674023"|"97418"|"6946311"|""|"TRAINING SOLUTIONS LTD"
"REV"|"940000"|"97419"|"6907016"|""|"MR CN SIA GILL

 

[feherke]

Hi

awk '{ORS=NR%6!=1?"|":"\n"}1' /input/file

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[sharma29]

Thanks you so much Feherke!