3 Columns to Row question

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I have a file that looks like this...
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
I would like to it to be like this
a b c
d e f
g h i

Thanks

2

Split the file

split -3 file79 f79s

creating three files f79saa, f79sab, f79sac

Change new-lines to blanks for each file, like

tr "\n" " " <f79saa > f79a

and then the other two

Finally, create finished file by cat'ing the three files

cat f79a > file79new
cat f79b >> file79new
cat f79c >> file79new
3

I thought I figured a quicker way, but the following (while doing something kind of cool) did not provide what you were looking for. However, I thought it would be a good entry to exist in the forum's repositor of Q&A.

> cat file79
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i

> split -3 file79 f79s | paste f79saa f79sab f79sac
a       d       g
b       e       h
c       f       i
4

Another one:

awk '{printf("%s%s",$0,NR%3?" ":"\n")}' file

Regards

5

Hi.

Similarly:

#!/bin/bash -

# @(#) s1       Demonstrate paste, column to row.

echo
echo "(Versions displayed with local utility \"version\")"
version >/dev/null 2>&1 && version "=o" $(_eat $0 $1) paste
set -o nounset
echo

FILE=${1-data1}

echo " Data file $FILE:"
cat $FILE

echo
echo " Results, paste default:"
paste - - - < $FILE

echo
echo " Results, paste separator:"
paste -d" " - - - < $FILE

exit 0

Producing:

% ./s1

(Versions displayed with local utility "version")
Linux 2.6.11-x1
GNU bash 2.05b.0
paste (coreutils) 5.2.1

 Data file data1:
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i

 Results, paste default:
a       b       c
d       e       f
g       h       i

 Results, paste separator:
a b c
d e f
g h i

cheers, drl

6

This only work if the file only contained 1 word and no spaces. My actual file has spaces for example....

a 123
b 123
c 123

and I would like
a 123 b 123 c 123

7

I'm not sure I follow what I should be doing .

8 
nawk 'ORS=(FNR%3)?FS:RS' myFile

as an alternative to a more classic 'paste'

9

That Works, but I Just need to make sure my file is consistent if not I will just have huge problem.