file formatting

[TheDash]

I have a file in this format

column1 column2 column3 column4

Usually I have data like this

column1 column2 column3 column4
xxx yyy zzz aaaaaa bbbbbb cccccccc

i.e column 4 has a long string. But whenever the string gets too large, it breaks like this


column1 column2 column3 column4
xxx yyy zzz aaaaaa bbbbbb cccccccccccccccccccccc
ccccccccc
111 222 333 44444444

Could we format it like?

column1 column2 column3 column4
xxx yyy zzz aaaaaa bbbbbb cccccccccccccccccccccc
ccccccccc
111 222 333 444444

The data is not the same as shown above.
Regards

 

[TheDash]

sorry about that it is:

column1 column2 column3 column4
xxx     yyy     zzz     aaaaaa bbbbbb cccccccccccccccccccccc
                                      ccccccccc

 

[PHV]

Have you tried to play with awk ?

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

 

[Ygor]

Try...

awk '{
    if(NF>=4){
        print $0
        x=index($0,$6)
    } else {
        printf "%" x-1 "s%s\n", " ", $0
    }
}' infile > outfile