"catting" files in one file side by side, not among each other

indyn00b · 05-09-2007, 04:03 AM

Hi!

I want to write a script that takes several files and places the data in these files side by side like a table. Something like "cat *.dat >> target.dat" but side by side for every .dat. Is this somehow possible? With standard tools?

Regards,
n00b

radoulov · 05-09-2007, 04:21 AM

Code:

paste *.dat>target.dat

pixellany · 05-09-2007, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radoulov

Code:

paste *.dat>target.dat

I think OP actually wants the data interleaved---ie each entry in a file is listed next to the correspnding entry in another file.

I would say set up a loop which reads one line from each file and puts the data into an array--which then can be written out to a new file.

PSEUDO-CODE:

Code:

N = 1   (line counter)
array (X,Y)
start loop
  read file1, line N into array (1,N)
  read file2, line N into array (2,N)
  etc.
  increment N
end loop
write array > newfilename

radoulov · 05-09-2007, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixellany

I think OP actually wants the data interleaved---ie each entry in a file is listed next to the correspnding entry in another file.
[...]

Which is what the paste command/utility does:

Code:

$ cat file1
1 a
2 a
$ cat file2
1 b
2 b
$ paste file1 file2
1 a     1 b
2 a     2 b

pixellany · 05-09-2007, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radoulov

Which is what the paste command/utility does:

That's not totally obvious from the man page, but I certainly don't doubt what you are saying.

It seems obvious that past expects data in a certain format....

indyn00b · 05-10-2007, 01:05 AM

Hi!
"paste" did exactly what I wanted, many thanks!

-n00b