HELP SORTING OUTPUT INTO COLUMNS 1

[johngiggs]

I would like to sort the output of a file into columns because all lines of the output are not the same width and I would like to have the values for each column line up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

John

 

[dickiebird]

Awk will do it :
Eg a 4 column record line, where field separator is 1 space
awk ' {printf("%Ns %Ns %Ns %Ns",$1,$2,$3,$4) } ' infile > outfile
where N is a decimal value of column width you require.
HTH
Dickie Bird (-)))

 

[johngiggs]

Thanks, Dickie Bird!! That works well, however it would be better if I could align the first column to the left. Any chance you could help me out with that?

Thanks,

John

 

[dickiebird]

Yep - put a minus sign after % and before 'N'
eg awk ' {printf("%-Ns %Ns %Ns %Ns",$1,$2,$3,$4) } ' infile > outfile
Dickie Bird (-)))