Script to copy information only after a certain sequence

amymarma · 06-24-2009, 04:57 PM

What i'm trying to do is more or less grep through a file (iptraf log) and grab only the bytes used for each line. It's in the form of:

Date; udp; eth0; xxxx bytes; ; ; ;

Is there a quick/easy way to do this using just VI (delete after "bytes"/sequence) or to grep for a certain variable sequence, perhaps in a bash script?

Thank you so much!

Tinkster · 06-24-2009, 05:06 PM

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

I'm not sure I fully understand your request; the vim solution to what I
think you're asking for would be:

Code:

:%s/bytes;.+$/bytes/

With sed on the command line:

Code:

sed -r 's/(^.*bytes);.*/\1/' file

Cheers,
Tink

Slim_Pikins · 06-24-2009, 05:10 PM

Sed would be the way Id go, and it can be used within vi

http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Sed.html

ghostdog74 · 06-24-2009, 07:20 PM

i see your delimiter is ";", then just use awk, simpler than constructing regex

Code:

awk -F";" '{print $4}' file