CODEWITHSUNDEEP
csvawkspacesfixed-width
Apojoost
Apojoost

Reputation: 137

How to preserve spaces in awk with fixed column width

I've got the following file:

Bonnr. Sessie Tijd  As okr                                        Bedrag  BTW-laag  BTW-hoog           
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
307717   5555 08:08 AS o                                            2,80      0,16                             
308670   5575 11:28 AS mut Supply Needs           kenmerk         -21,98                              
                           FIRM                                                                    
308671   5575 11:34 AP o                                            5,60      0,32

Wanted output:

Bonnr.;Sessie;Tijd ;As;okr;                                       ;Bedrag ;BTW-laag;  BTW-hoog           
------;------;-----;--;---;---------------------------------------;-------;--------;----------------- 
307717;  5555;08:08;AS;o  ;                                       ;  2,80 ;    0,16;                             
308670;  5575;11:28;AS;mut;Supply Needs           kenmerk         ;-21,98 ;        ;                    
      ;      ;     ;      ;FIRM                                   ;       ;        ;                 
308671;  5575;11:34;AP;o  ;                                       ;  5,60 ;    0,32;

I use the following command:

awk 'BEGIN{FIELDWIDTHS="6 7 4 2 4 39 7 8 8";OFS=","}{$1=$1}1' Test.txt > Test.csv

My output is:

Bonnr.,Sessie,Tijd,As,okr,Bedrag,BTW-laag,BTW-hoog
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
307717,5555,08:08,AS,o,2,80,0,16
308670,5575,11:28,AS,mut,Supply,Needs,kenmerk,-21,98
FIRM
308671,5575,11:34,AP,o,5,60,0,32

I don't comprehend why awk doesn't preserve the spaces in column six. How can I solve this?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1331

Answers (2)

Ed Morton
Ed Morton

Reputation: 204054

FIELDWIDTHS is gawk-specific and hasn't always been supported. You apparently aren't calling gawk or aren't calling a version of gawk that supports FIELDWIDTHS.

This will work in any awk:

$ cat tst.awk
BEGIN { split("6 7 4 2 4 39 7 8 8",poss) }
{
    for (i=1; i in poss; i++) {
        printf "%s;", substr($0,1,poss[i])
        $0 = substr($0,poss[i]+1)
    }
    print
}

$ awk -f tst.awk file
Bonnr.; Sessie; Tij;d ; As ;okr                                    ;    Bed;rag  BTW;-laag  B;TW-hoog
------;-------;----;--;----;---------------------------------------;-------;--------;--------;----------------
307717;   5555; 08:;08; AS ;o                                      ;      2;,80     ; 0,16   ;
308670;   5575; 11:;28; AS ;mut Supply Needs           kenmerk     ;    -21;,98     ;        ;
      ;       ;    ;  ;    ;    FIRM                               ;       ;        ;        ;
308671;   5575; 11:;34; AP ;o                                      ;      5;,60     ; 0,32   ;

Just adjust your positions numbers to be what you really want.

Upvotes: 1

battlmonstr
battlmonstr

Reputation: 6300

You can use printf for this.

Instead of {$1=$1} you can have { printf("%6s;%7s;%4s;...", $1, $2, $3, ...) } (replace "..." with more fields)

Also it seems that in your output FIELDWIDTHS didn't work, because it looks as if it was just separated by whitespace, and not by column lengths. Make sure that you use the right version of gawk.

Also make sure the the field widths are right. The first 4 fields should probably be "7 7 5 3...", not "6 7 4 2..." to include spaces.

Upvotes: 0

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