parsing a word into characters

[danstrobridge]

I am processing a file that has several fields separated by tabs. At one point in my workflow, I need to parse each each character in the first field so that I can I write the character to a new file along with some other information. The "other information" is what I have been able to figure out for myself... along with how print only the first field to that new file. What I am having a problem with is how to parse the content of the first field into its different characters.

For example, the input file might be:

one xxxxxx yyyyyyy zzzzzzz
two xxxxxx yyyyyyy zzzzzzz

the first of these four fields is really all i need.... and i need to write to a new file with the format:

o 11111111 2222222 one
n 33333333 4444444 one
e 55555555 6666666 one
t 77777777 8888888 two
w 99999999 10101010 two
o 11 11 11 12121212 two

i know how to pull in the last three fields in the above... if i only knew how to generate the 1st field from the input file.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Dan

 

[vgersh99]

echo '123 456' | nawk '{for(i=1; i <=length($1); i++) print substr($1, i, 1), "foo", "bar"}'

vlad
+----------------------------+
| #include<disclaimer.h> |
+----------------------------+

 

[danstrobridge]

I'll give it a shot! Thanks for such a speedy reply!