Unix- using awk to print in table format

Question

I want to create a table that looks something like this, where i display the # at the front of every $2 and the Title header but I do not want to store it in my file:

Name          ID             Gender

John Smith    #4567734D      Male
Kyle Toh      #2437882L      Male
Julianne .T   #0324153T      Female

I got a result like this instead:

Name          ID             Gender
#
Name          ID             Gender
John Smith    #4567734D      Male
Name          ID             Gender
Kyle Toh      #2437882L      Male
Name          ID             Gender
Julianne .T   #0324153T      Female

By using this command:

awk -F: '   {print "Name:ID:Gender\n"} 
            {print $1":#"$2":"$3}' data.txt |column -s ":" -t

Please edit your question to show us the sample input as well. — Tom Fenech
– Tom Fenech, Commented Jan 16, 2017 at 11:01

hek2mgl · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-16 11:06:05Z

1

Print the headers only in the first line:

awk -F: 'NR==1 {print "Name:ID:Gender\n"} {print $1":#"$2":"$3}'

or:

awk -F: 'BEGIN {print "Name:ID:Gender\n"} {print $1":#"$2":"$3}'

Explanation:

An awk program consists of expressions in the form of:

CONDITION { ACTIONS } [ CONDITION { ACTIONS }, ... ]

... where CONDITION and ACTION optional. If CONDITION is missing, like:

{ ACTIONS }

... then ACTIONS would be applied to any line of input. In the case above we have two expressions:

# Only executed if NR==1
NR==1 {print "Name:ID:Gender\n"}

# CONDITION is missing. ACTIONS will be applied to any line of input
{print $1":#"$2":"$3}

edited Jan 16, 2017 at 11:06

answered Jan 16, 2017 at 11:01

hek2mgl

159k31 gold badges263 silver badges279 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

jas Over a year ago

Or perhaps more typically, in a begin block: BEGIN{print "Name:ID:Gender\n"}

hek2mgl Over a year ago

Sure, BEGIN can be used as well.

Monomoni Over a year ago

@hek2mgl Now although the title does not duplicate anymore, how do I avoid printing the # on the second line and keep it blank?

hek2mgl Over a year ago

Just print $1:"":$3

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Unix- using awk to print in table format

1 Answer 1

4 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

4 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related