I have an Excel file that has 'CR LF' in every line except the header. The header only has 'LF'. How can I add 'CR' to the header using command line? I assume then the file would have to be rewritten so all lines have 'CR LF'.

Hi there,

For a text file in general, one way to solve the problem might be to run "dos2unix" on it first (which will remove the CRs from all lines where present), then run "unix2dos", which will add CRs to all lines (including the header).

Regarding the Excel file specifically, what format exactly are you talking about? Is the the XML file you extracted from a .xlxs file? Purely out of curiosity, why is the CR/LF details important?

Regards,

Clifford

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As with your other threads, this is no different: SHOW US YOUR CODE.

We can't guess as to what you have to work with. You've not told us ANYTHING about this file (we can only ASSUME it's a CSV/TSV file, since Excel files are a lump of XML/binary junk). We don't know how this is getting generated either, on what version/distro of Linux. Read the "Question Guidelines" link in my posting signature...you need to provide usable details when asking a question; having us ask you each time to provide code/samples/etc., isn't good. Neither is closing one of your threads by simply saying you "added a few lines of code", and not actually SHOWING what you did...the community is here to help each other. You came here for a solution, found one, and then aren't sharing it.

Without knowing ANYTHING about what you have to work with, you could just run
...which will replace the first CR with a CRLF.

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@ TB0ne.........what you have stated makes sense and I apologize for my lack of providing code. Will try to do better from this point forward. I am using an application called EDQ that generates these reports so it doesn't show any code. It's sort of like SQL in a GUI environment. I use EDQ for everything, which shows no code, which is th reason why I only ask for solutions in a command line that I can put in a bash script.

All lines show "CR LF" when viewed in Notepad ++ except the first line (header). The first line only shows "LF", just need it to show "CR LF".

I hope all understands why I cannot provide code and only ask for help that I can incorporate into a bash script.

The file is pipe delimited, no quote characters and the encoding is 'windows-1252'. Another team that I am sending these reports to requires that each line has "CR LF".

Oh, and it is a text file.

Hi again,

We still don't know what file type this is? Is this a CSV file as TB0ne suggested?

Please try either TB0ne's "sed" command or my "dos2unix" & "unix2dos" approach & let us know whether that solves the problem?

Regards,

Clifford

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It is a text file.

@TB0ne.............the other thread you was referring to that I have not marked as solved and did not provide the solution for other to see, I have since added the code that solved my issue and marked it as solved. Sorry all, I am new to this site and will do better.

OK, have you tried the suggested solutions?

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I have. I tried TB0ne's suggestion, which is:

sed -i 's/\r/\n/' testfile <------ with no extension

But it converts all lines to just have "LF". All lines have "CR LF" except the header line, which shows only "LF". I need only the remaining line(header) to show "CR LF".

Ok, but it would be helpful to actually see part of what you've got to work with. Again, without an actual 'something' to look at, details are sparse.

Typically, things go from Linux TO Windows, so the \n (LF) is replaced with a CRLF (\r). Try reversing the positions in the command I gave you initially. Also, the behavior you described shouldn't happen...without specifying the entire file with a 'g', sed should only replace the FIRST occurrence. Try:
...and see what happens.

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try this instead:

Or try the dos2unix/unix2dos approach...

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I think he is looking to change only the first line (the header) to have a CR/LF at the end, which only has a LF currently.. That would be:

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@szboardstretcher........... I would've thought your suggestion would resolve my issue, but the 1st line(header) still shows only 'LF'.

What is happening after attempting to add "LF CR" to the 1st line of the text file is a timestamp is added to the file along with an extension. Would this affect the text file after adding CR LF ?

This line of code, suggested by cliffordw added to my bash script has solved my issue:

sed -i '1s/$/\r/' testfile

Now my text file is showing at the end of the line "CR LF".

Thank you for all for such speedy responses and attempts to help!!!

Cool. Please remember to mark this thread as "solved".

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