regular expression

[stevof]

hi, i've got a file which consists of

<number1><number2>string
<number3><number4>string
.
.
.


how can i create a new file where both of numbers'll be decreased by 500?
<number1-500><number2-500>string
<number3-500><number4-500>string
.
.
.

thanx a lot!

 

[Salem]

Try this

awk '{ $1 = $1 - 500 ; $2 = $2 - 500 ; print }' file

--

 

[PHV]

Try something like this:
nawk -F'[<>]' '
{print "<"$2-500"><"$4-500">"$5}
' /path/to/file

Hope This Help, PH.
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