Print minimum value in column

[gborrageiro]

hello,

I'm having trouble printing the minimum numerical value in a column. When I try printing the maximum value it works fine. It's almost as if awk does'nt like the '<' parameter.

The command I run is:
cat file | awk '$5 < min {min=$5; minline=$0}; END{ print min, minline}'

The result is just blank. I know column 5 is right because this returns correct values:
cat file | awk '{ print $5 }'

your help is appreciated.

regards
G

 

[wardy66]

It's because min starts off like a 0

So nothing is lower

Try adding something like

BEGIN { min = 999 }

but keep in mind that this is a bit of a kludge. If the lowest value is actually 1000 then it will print 999. So pick a big number, or to do it properly set min to the first value of $5 on the first line.

Gotta get a coffee so I'll leave that up to you

 

[Annihilannic]

min has no value when your script starts, so awk treats it as 0. Presumably none of the numbers in column 5 are negative, so your $5 < min never evaluates to true.

Try adding NR==1 { min=$5 } to the beginning of your script to initialise it.

Incidentally, you don't need to cat file, just use awk 'script' file.

Annihilannic.

 

[feherke]

Hi

min has no value when your script starts, so awk treats it as 0.

Correct, in case of arithmetic operations. But in string operations it is treated as empty string. Taking advantage of this, an alternative solution is :

awk '[red]min=="" ||[/red] $5 < min {min=$5; minline=$0}; END{ print min, minline}' file

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[wardy66]

You're both putting my dodgy solution to shame.

Wish I'd delayed that coffee now