Can't figure out how to find specific characters in specific columns

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

I am trying to find a specific set of characters in a long file. I only want to find the characters in column 265 for 4 bytes.

Is there a search for that? I tried cut but couldn't get it to work.

Ex. I want to find '9999' in column 265 for 4 bytes. If it is in there, I want it to print out the whole line.

Thanks for any advice.

2

Try:

awk -v W="9999" 'substr($0,265,4)==W' infile
3

Thanks! I'll give that a shot.

4

Try like..

awk '{if($265=="9999") {print $0}}' test.txt
5

The OP has mentioned that he/she needs to check the 4 characters in a line/record starting at the 265th column. 265th column will never be the 265th field for awk (in case of splitting on white-space(spaces and/or tabs)).

6

Correct. But there may be non POSIX compatible extensions, like in e.g. mawk,

Still you would need to phrase the condition like $265$266$267$268=="9999" . Might be worth a shot.

7

I think this FS="" also not supported by all extensions.

8

Thanks everyone. The original answer actually worked for my purposes. Now, is there any way to remove those lines from the file and put them in another file?

I was able to put them in another file, but i can't get them to be removed from the original.

Thanks again.

9

Rule of thumb is, never edit your originals. One program bug and your input data has been irreversibly trashed. Use the original as a template to generate other things from; if it doesn't work the first time, nothing lost, edit your program and try again.

10

Thanks. I have copied my original file.

11

Good, you can follow my advice then and do program < originalcopy > original

12

Sorry, i don't see any example that you sent on how to strip out the records in question.

13

It's the opposite of the original solution see change in red:

awk -v W="9999" 'substr($0,265,4)!=W' infile