CODEWITHSUNDEEP
awkparagraphstanza
user3602441
user3602441

Reputation: 17

awk: end of line vs end of record

I am trying to match number at the end of the line ($), print relevant paragraphs and ignore third paragraph. Here is data:

this is first paragraph
number 200
with some text

this is second paragraph
with some text
number 200

this is third paragraph
with some text
number 2001

This command matches only first paragraph: awk -v RS="" -v ORS="\n\n" "/number 200\n/" file

This command matches only second paragraph: awk -v RS="" -v ORS="\n\n" "/number 200$/" file

Seems the problem is that awk understands character "$" as end of record instead of line. Is there some elegant way how to overcome this? Unfortunately I do not have grep that can work with paragraphs.

UPDATE:

Expected output:

this is first paragraph
number 200
with some text

this is second paragraph
with some text
number 200

Upvotes: 0

Views: 169

Answers (2)

Ed Morton
Ed Morton

Reputation: 203985

Using any awk:

$ awk -v RS= -v ORS='\n\n' '/(^|\n)number 200(\n|$)/' file
this is first paragraph
number 200
with some text

this is second paragraph
with some text
number 200

Regarding Seems the problem is that awk understands character "$" as end of record instead of line - that's not a problem, that's the definition of $. In a regexp $ means end of string, it only appears to mean end of line if the string you're matching against just happens to be a single line, e.g. as read by grep, sed, and awk by default. When you're matching against a string containing multiple lines (e.g. using -z in GNU grep or GNU sed or RS="" in awk or RS='^$' in GNU awk) then you should expect $ to match just once at the and of that string (and ^ just once at the start of it), there's nothing special about newlines versus any other character in the string and no regexp metachar to match them.

Regarding Unfortunately I do not have grep that can work with paragraphs - no-one does as, unlike awk, grep doesn't have a paragraph mode.

Upvotes: 1

Diego Torres Milano
Diego Torres Milano

Reputation: 69318

You should include the desired output in your question.

However, if I understand you may want record 1 & 2 but not 3:

awk -v RS='' -v ORS='\n\n' '{s=$0; gsub("\n", " ", s); if (s ~ /number 200( |$)/) print}' file

Upvotes: 1

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