How to split multiple column into two columns based on the first column

Question

I have a tab delimited column text like below

A    1   12  13
B    3   4   5 
C    6   17   8
D    19   10  11

how could I convert the above table like below

B column has value \t3. Why has it been missed from the result? — RomanPerekhrest
– RomanPerekhrest, Commented May 10, 2017 at 11:12
Almost identical How to repeat a row for each value of its corresponding column — steeldriver
– steeldriver, Commented May 10, 2017 at 12:51

user000001 · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-10 12:09:50Z

4

With awk:

$ awk '{for (i=2;i<=NF;i++) print $1,$i}' file
A 1
A 12
A 13
B 3
B 4
B 5
C 6
C 17
C 8
D 19
D 10
D 11

To have the output tab delimited, you can use the OFS variable:

$ awk -v OFS='\t' '{for (i=2;i<=NF;i++) print $1,$i}' file
A   1
A   12
A   13
B   3
B   4
B   5
C   6
C   17
C   8
D   19
D   10
D   11

answered May 10, 2017 at 11:03

user000001

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