how to make several columns in a text file of different lengths the same length

Mike_V · 04-23-2009, 11:51 AM

Hi there,
I have a matrix of numbers separated by a space in a text file that looks like this:

Code:

2 3 9 8 9 0 
6 9 0 8 5 
0 9 8 7 
6 5 4
1 3
5

(FYI: I don't have a 6x6 matrix, as the example above, but 400x400)

Now I want to fill the total matrix with zero's in the lower triangle:

Code:

2 3 9 8 9 0 
6 9 0 8 5 0
0 9 8 7 0 0
6 5 4 0 0 0
1 3 0 0 0 0
5 0 0 0 0 0

One more piece of info: I also have each column in it's own text file, for instance the second column:

Code:

If I could get a script to go into the file of that second column and change the 5 rows into 6 rows and placing a "0" in the empty row, this second file could change into this:

Code:

that would also be of great help.

Thanks for any help/tips.

Mike
(I'm comfortable with simple grep, sed, awk, and tr scripts but not a hard line programmer)

druuna · 04-23-2009, 12:53 PM

Hi,

This should take care of the first problem (filling out matrix with zero's):

awk '{ for (x = 1; x <= 25; x++) printf("%d ", $x)}{ printf("\n")}' infile

With the counter set to 25 (crank it up to 400 if all is well), here's a testrun:

Code:

$ cat infile 
2 3 9 8 9 0 
6 9 0 8 5 
0 9 8 7 
6 5 4
1 3
5

$ awk '{ for (x = 1; x <= 25; x++) printf("%d ", $x)}{ printf("\n")}' infile 
2 3 9 8 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
6 9 0 8 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
0 9 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
6 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Hope this helps.

PS: What are the names of the files that you want changed?

druuna · 04-23-2009, 02:23 PM

Hi again,

This could be the solution for your second problem:

awk '{print $1 }END {for (y = NR+1; y<= 6; y++) print "0" }' column.file

Test run:

Code:

$ cat column.file
1
2
3

$ awk '{print $1 }END {for (y = NR+1; y<= 6; y++) print "0" }' column.file
1
2
3
0
0
0

Adjust the counter to your liking.

Mike_V · 04-23-2009, 09:17 PM

Hi Druuna,
those scripts worked like a charm!
Thanks!
Groeten uit Boston
Mike