Removing trailing spaces within delimited file 1

[rufflocks]

The file is comma delimited.
There are trailing spaces before the next comma.
eg: first name,last name ,address1 ,address2,

How do I remove these trailing spaces before the next comma
so that the output looks as follows?
eg: first name,last name,address1,address2,

 

[vgersh99]

function trim()
{
for (i=1; i <= NF; i++) {
nsub1=gsub(&quot;^[[:space:]]+|[[:space:]]+$&quot;, &quot;&quot;, $i);
printf(&quot;%s%s&quot;, $i, (i < NF-1) ? FS : &quot;&quot;
}
printf(&quot;\n&quot;
}

 

[rufflocks]

I was hoping for something simplier.
But while I wait, can I include that function within
an awk script that will be used to eventaully process the file?

 

[rufflocks]

I tried the function as a stand-alone.
The results were that 1 trailing space was left before the comma.
eg: first name,last name ,address1 ,address2,

produced:
first name,last name ,address1 ,address2,

instead of:
first name,last name,address1,address2,

 

[vgersh99]

ooops, sorry about that. Here's a better version

function trim()
{
for (i=1; i <= NF; i++) {
nsub1=gsub(&quot;^[ ]+|[ ]+$&quot;, &quot;&quot;, $i);
printf(&quot;%s%s&quot;, $i, (i < NF-1) ? FS : &quot;&quot;
}
printf(&quot;\n&quot;
}

 

[CaKiwi]

I don't know if you find this is simpler, but it should do the job.

gsub(" *, *",",")

Hope this helps. CaKiwi

 

[rufflocks]

Thanks.
The final script took the following form, and it works:

cat infile1 | nawk -F ',' '{gsub(&quot; *, *&quot;,&quot;,&quot;print $0}' > filename

 

[CaKiwi]

You could simplify it slightly by making the input file an argument to awk instead of using cat. Also, print prints the current line by default so the $0 is not necessary

nawk -F ',' '{gsub(" *, *",",");print}' infile > filename

CaKiwi