Doesn't remove ALL the blank lines....

[RVSachin]

Hi,

I am trying to remove blank lines from a report by doing
grep -v "^$" file1 > file2
such that file2 doesn't contain blank lines.

Although it works on most of the blank lines, I still see few blank lines such as the one in the code. I am wondering why it doesn't remove *ALL* blank lines in the file.

Also, it will be helpful if any of you can guide me to how to remove all blank lines, and remove tab-spaces in each line if there's any. Getting it to work on the following peice of code using Korn-shell commands will be very helpful.

Thanks,

Intro to Korn shell programming
*******************************


Why scripting?
Scripting, when done right, is a fast, easy way to "get the job done", without the usual "code,compile,test,debug" overhead of writing in C or some other compiled language. It is easier than C for multiple reasons: 

	1.	Scripting commands tend to be more readable
	2.	Scriping languages tend to come with powerful tools
	3.	There is no "compile" phase

UNIX tends to take #2 to extremes, since it comes standard with "powerful tools" that can be strung together with pipes or other mechanisms, to get the result you want, with a short development time.

 

[PHV]

Have you tried this ?
grep -v '^[ <Tab>]*$' file1 > file2
Replacing <Tab> by a tab character

Hope This Helps, PH.
Want to get great answers to your Tek-Tips questions? Have a look at FAQ219-2884 or FAQ222-2244

 

[Ygor]

Or..
[tt] awk NF file1 > file2[/tt]

 

[iribach]

RVSachin: they are simply NOT blanc
as phv said, a line with blancs is NOT a blanc line.

Ygor: elegant

my preferred ( == phv's grep )

sed '/^[SpaceTab]*$/d' in >out