how do i separate fields delimited by pipes (¦)?

[jaykjoe]

Hello,

I have a spooled SQL file that I need to separate the fields delimited by pipes using awk or sed. There can be leading and trailing spaces in between pipes. How can I just extract the field itself and not any spaces.

For example, file(line) looks like:

01 | I | am | stuck |on| this.

field1=01
field2=I
field3=am
field4=stuck
field5=on
field6=this.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Jason

 

[CaKiwi]

Try this

{
  gsub (/ /,"")
  split($0,aa,"|")
  print "field2=" aa[1]
  print "field3=" aa[2]
  print "field4=" aa[3]
  print "field5=" aa[4]
  print "field6=" aa[5]
  print "field6=" aa[6]
}

Hope this helps.
CaKiwi

 

[jaykjoe]

Thanks CaKiwi. However, I happen to have some fields that are blank and it deletes them.

For example:

01 | | am | stuck |on| this.

This line would produce results:

field1=01
field2=am
field3=stuck
field4=on
field5=this.

Field2 is ignored and everything is shifted.

Any way I can modify it so I can include those blank items?


Thanks.

Jason

 

[StevetheBlue]

Call awk with

awk -F'|'

as -F sets the field seperator.

Steve.

 

[vgersh99]

extract the needed fields assuming FS="|" and then 'trim' the leading the trailing blanks from the field itself. This will NOT cause the "embedded" blanks being trimmed.

function trim(str)
{
nsub1=sub("^[ ]*", "", str);
nsub2=sub("[ ]*$", "", str);
return (str);
}

vlad

 

[CaKiwi]

To complete vgersh99's thought ...

BEGIN {FS="|"}
{
  for (i=1;i<=NF;i++) {
    sub(/^ */,&quot;&quot;,$i)
    sub(/ *$/,&quot;&quot;,$i)
    print &quot;field1=&quot; $i
  }
}

Hope this helps. CaKiwi

 

[vgersh99]

exactly - thank you

vlad

 

[CaKiwi]

You're welcome CaKiwi

 

[vgersh99]

do you think I can make it to the "Top 10" with this thread?

vlad

 

[jaykjoe]

Thanx! This is exactly what I needed.


Jason

 

[marsd]

I am a big fan of your work vgersh: you helped me a lot
if you want to take the blame for that.

 

[vgersh99]

thanks - guilty as charged!

Lemme reciprocate here....

And I in turn appreciate your post here and on comp.lang.awk and the sense of humor as in:

> Us backwoods folk don't know nuthin 'bout that.
> We does what we wants when we wants it.

What a happy, HAPPY family we have.....

thanks for kind words

vlad