How to write the contents of a column as a row in linux

markraem · 07-16-2004, 01:10 AM

Hi,

suppose I have an ACII file called data.txt that looks like this :

%cat data.txt
item1
item2
item3

I am looking for a command (or script) that converts the column to a row,
meaning :

%command data.txt will result in :
item1, item2, item3

or

%command data.txt > row.txt will yield :
%cat row.txt
item1,item2,item3

(The comma in between may also be a space or TAB )

Does a command like this exist in linux ?

jkobrien · 07-16-2004, 05:17 AM

awk '{printf "%s, ",$0} END {printf "\n"}' data.txt

Or, if you care about a trailing comma...

awk '{printf "%s, ",$0} END {printf "\n"}' data.txt | sed 's/, $//'

John

/bin/bash · 07-16-2004, 11:56 AM

Check out the Advanced Bash Scripting Guide for more info on arrays.

ITEMS=(`cat data.txt`);echo ${ITEMS[@]}

FYI: Change one character and you have a crude "word count" program:

ITEMS=(`cat /path/to/anyfile`);echo ${#ITEMS[@]}

wipe · 07-16-2004, 02:29 PM

cat data.txt|tr '\n' ,

Simple enough? Great challenge, BTW.

If you want a trailing newline,

echo `cat data.txt|tr '\n' ,`

Count words with

cat data.txt|wc -w

Regards
Simon

markraem · 07-17-2004, 07:35 PM

Tnx alot guys,

I am using the solution of wipe, because it looks the most simple to me

It works like a champ.