CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashawk
JBoy
JBoy

Reputation: 5735

issue with OFS in awk


I have a string containing this (field separator is the percentage sign), stored in a variable called data

201%jkhjfhn%kfhngjm%mkdfhgjdfg%mkdfhgjdfhg%mkdhfgjdhfg%kdfhgjgh%kdfgjhgfh%mkfgnhmkgfnh%k,gnhjkgfn%jkdfhngjdfng

I'm trying to print out that string replacing the percentage sign with a pipe but it seems harden than i thought:

echo ${data} | awk -F"%" 'BEGIN {OFS="|"} {print $0}'

I know I'm very close to it just not close enough.

I see that code as:

1 echo the variable value into a awk session
2 set field separator as "%"
3 set as output field separator "|"
4 print the line

Upvotes: 2

Views: 560

Answers (2)

Gilles Quénot
Gilles Quénot

Reputation: 184995

Try this :

echo "$data" | awk -F"%" 'BEGIN {OFS="|"} {$1=$1; print $0}'

From awk manual

Finally, there are times when it is convenient to force awk to rebuild the entire record, using the current value of the fields and OFS. To do this, use the seemingly innocuous assignment:

$1 = $1   # force record to be reconstituted
print $0  # or whatever else with $0

Another lightweight way using only tr if you search an alternative for awk :

tr '%' '|' <<< "$data"

Upvotes: 3

Mat
Mat

Reputation: 206679

Sputnick gave you the awk solution, but you don't actually need awk at all, just use your shell:

echo ${data//%/|}

Upvotes: 3

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