How do I process each line in a file

[Tison]

I need to do a task depending on first 5 chars in each line of a file.
This script does not work (it shows each word as a line)?
for rec in `cat myfile`
do
echo $rec | cut -c1-5
done

MYFILE looks like this
ABCDEsome string of data
FRED some string of data
HARRYsome string of data

 

[Gloups]

I dont realy understand what's your problem but to do the type of thing you want to do, an easy way to do is to use the "read" command

 

[RodKnowlton]

You're almost there. Try this:

for rec in `cut -c1-5 myfile`
do
echo $rec
done

Rod Knowlton
IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert pSeries and AIX 5L

 

[Tison]

Yes,the read command will work.Thanks

 

[hfaix]

Please re-explain. This sounds like one we can help with, but I don't really understand what you're trying to do.

My best guess (of what you're trying to do) is to try and assign the returned "echo" to a variable and then run logic based upon what's in the variable.

vfirst_five=$(echo $rec | cut -c 1-5)