Help with Awk and Printf, please!

romeo0307 · 05-07-2012, 03:25 PM

Hi guys. I need help with getting a file to give me a certain output using the awk command, please.

I have this file that has the following format:

SalesID:LastName:FirstName:MI

I need an output that is going to be like this:

LastName, FirstName MI SalesID

NOTE: all 3 names have to fit into a 25 character container and the SalesID needs to be right alligned. SalesID is a number.

So far, here is what I have.

I have a file called "salespeople" with data in a format I described above.

the command I have so far is:

awk -F: '{printf "%s, %-s %-s %d\n", $2, $3, $4, $1}' salespeople

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. This is kind of urgent too.

Thanks in advance!

Tinkster · 05-07-2012, 04:31 PM

First of all, w/o knowing the lengths of all parts of the line this
is going to be impossible, full stop.

Code:

1001:Duckstoning:Donaldiorrrr:D

That's 26 characters there and then, w/o padding. No way to fit this
into 25, is there?

That said:

Code:

cat salesperson 
1001:Duckston:Donaldiorrrr:D
awk -F: '{printf "%-25s %08d\n",$2", "$3" "$4, $1}' salesperson 
Duckston, Donaldiorrrr D  00001001

romeo0307 · 05-07-2012, 04:59 PM

I actually figured this out on my own. But, with a hint from the class instructor. The solution is to pipe an awk into another awk.

awk -F: '{printf "%s, %s %s: %s\n", $2, $3, $4, $1}' salespeople | awk -F: '{printf "%-25.25s %s\n", $1, $2}'

Thanks anyway!

Tinkster · 05-07-2012, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by romeo0307

I actually figured this out on my own. But, with a hint from the class instructor. The solution is to pipe an awk into another awk.

awk -F: '{printf "%s, %s %s: %s\n", $2, $3, $4, $1}' salespeople | awk -F: '{printf "%-25.25s %s\n", $1, $2}'

Thanks anyway!

Tell your instructor that's poor resource management, as I've shown above that
it can be done in one statement :P

romeo0307 · 05-07-2012, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkster

Tell your instructor that's poor resource management, as I've show above that
it can be done in one statement :P

Hm, you're right

Though, to make it same I had to take out comma after %-25s. Thanks though! Thanks for taking your time and responding.

romeo0307 · 05-07-2012, 06:29 PM

By the way, sir, could you explain your code? I'm not getting how you constructed it. The quotes got me all confused.

Tinkster · 05-07-2012, 07:14 PM

All I did was to create a format-string w/ two parameters, one for
string data, one for numeric data, and assembled the "string" out of
the name chunks on the fly....

Btw, I didn't have a comma after %-25s ;}

Code:

{printf "%-25s %08d\n",$2", "$3" "$4, $1}

The second red chunk is ONE string, not three, using awk concatenation.

In detail:

Code:

$2", "$3" "$4

So everything that isn't red is just part of the string which glues
the awk fields together.

Cheers,
Tink

chrism01 · 05-07-2012, 07:15 PM

I like post #4, made me smile this morning

Tinkster · 05-07-2012, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism01

I like post #4, made me smile this morning

/me takes a bow: "Why thank you, kind Sir!" =o)

Always pleased to have some entertainment value ;D

Cheers,
Tink

chrism01 · 05-07-2012, 07:33 PM

I just want to see the instructor's face if the OP has the courage to tell/show him

romeo0307 · 05-07-2012, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism01

I just want to see the instructor's face if the OP has the courage to tell/show him

no way

romeo0307 · 05-07-2012, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkster

All I did was to create a format-string w/ two parameters, one for
string data, one for numeric data, and assembled the "string" out of
the name chunks on the fly....

Btw, I didn't have a comma after %-25s ;}

Code:

{printf "%-25s %08d\n",$2", "$3" "$4, $1}

The second red chunk is ONE string, not three, using awk concatenation.

In detail:

Code:

$2", "$3" "$4

So everything that isn't red is just part of the string which glues
the awk fields together.

Cheers,
Tink

that's deep

a bit too deep for me lol

chrism01 · 05-07-2012, 07:57 PM

Just submit the efficient answer and see what happens

Here's a good page on printf; as it says, its basically the same as implemented in C (in fact its probably just a front-end for the same lib call

) http://linuxconfig.org/bash-printf-s...-with-examples

Good awk guide http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Awk.html

romeo0307 · 05-07-2012, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrism01

Just submit the efficient answer and see what happens

Here's a good page on printf; as it says, its basically the same as implemented in C (in fact its probably just a front-end for the same lib call

) http://linuxconfig.org/bash-printf-s...-with-examples

Good awk guide http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Awk.html

the guy took away points from last assignment for excluding question numbers from the problems on the paper that i submitted. it had all the questions and answers and all were 100% correct. way too picky.

chrism01 · 05-07-2012, 08:11 PM

Sigh ...

A good course should encourage learning the tool, not just canned qns/answers, otherwise you can only copy/paste, not actually deal with the real world .
Never mind, just keep the good stuff in your back pocket for afterwards