Append two columns to file with printf.

gctaylor1 · 07-02-2015, 03:28 PM

I'm trying to find a way to use printf to append a column to two rows of a file at the same time. I currently have an awk script that appends one column to a single row. Like this:

Code:

printf " " sum+1 >> "/tmp/awktest.txt"

I want to build two rows at the same time while appending this data to an existing file. This is an example of how the file would grow with each passing addition of data to the file.

Code:

01:13:34 
10

Code:

01:13:34 02:13:34 
10	 15

Code:

01:13:34 02:13:34 03:13:34 
10	 15	  12

Code:

01:13:34 02:13:34 03:13:34 04:13:34 
10	 15	  12	   20

Code:

01:13:34 02:13:34 03:13:34 04:13:34 05:13:34
10	 15	  12	   20	    8

The formatting between the integer values does not have to be exactly as above. In the above example I just lined up the columns for easier reading. The example below is OK as well.

Code:

01:13:34 02:13:34 03:13:34 04:13:34 05:13:34
10 15 12 20 8

It seems like I should be able to use some combination of LF, CR, FF to do this but I have not been able to find the right combination. Is it possible to do what I'm asking?

danielbmartin · 07-02-2015, 03:53 PM

column may be what you are looking for.

With this InFile ...

Code:

01:13:34 02:13:34 03:13:34 04:13:34 05:13:34
10 15 12 20 8

... this column ...
column -t $InFile >$OutFile
... produced this OutFile ...

Code:

01:13:34  02:13:34  03:13:34  04:13:34  05:13:34
10        15        12        20        8

Daniel B. Martin

gctaylor1 · 07-02-2015, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielbmartin

column may be what you are looking for.

Thanks Daniel. It appears that column is operating on an entire line? I'm not sure how well I explained my use case.

Here's another example that I hope makes it clearer.
What I do not want:

Code:

$ echo 'top bottom' | column -t
top  bottom

What I want is:

Code:

top
bottom

The next run should do the same:
What I want:

Code:

top top
bottom bottom

Gary

danielbmartin · 07-02-2015, 09:55 PM

This code ...

Code:

# Start with an empty file.
echo 'top1 bottom1'  \
|tr " " "\n"       \
>$OutFile
echo; echo "OutFile ..."; cat $OutFile; echo "End Of File"

# Now add a second datum.
cat $OutFile >$WorkFile
echo 'top2 bottom2'  \
|tr " " "\n"         \
|paste $WorkFile -   \
>$OutFile
echo; echo "OutFile ..."; cat $OutFile; echo "End Of File"

# Now add a third datum.
cat $OutFile >$WorkFile
echo 'top3 bottom3'  \
|tr " " "\n"         \
|paste $WorkFile -   \
>$OutFile
echo; echo "OutFile ..."; cat $OutFile; echo "End Of File"

... produced this result ...

Code:

OutFile ...
top1
bottom1
End Of File

OutFile ...
top1	top2
bottom1	bottom2
End Of File

OutFile ...
top1	top2	top3
bottom1	bottom2	bottom3
End Of File

Daniel B. Martin