# Extract file records based on some field conditions **URL:** \ **Category:** Shell Programming and Scripting\ **Created:** [November 29, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178 "2010-11-29T23:44:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mehimadri](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/mehimadri/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@mehimadri](https://community.unix.com/u/mehimadri)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/1 "2010-11-29T23:44:56Z")
Hello Friends, I have a file(InputFile.csv) with the following columns(the columns are pipe-delimited): ColA|ColB|ColC|ColD|ColE|ColF Now for this file, I have to get those records which fulfil the following condition: If "ColB" is NOT NULL and "ColD" has values one of the following ('A','B','C') the show the records If the aforementioned condition is satisfied then I need to have those records only in a separate file. Please help me in this! Thanks in Advance!! with warm regards ---
**Author:** ![kevintse](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/kevintse/32/1921_2.png) [@kevintse](https://community.unix.com/u/kevintse)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/2 "2010-11-30T00:03:52Z")
> [@](#): > > awk -F"|" ' $2!="" && $4 ~ /\[1\]$/ ' InputFile.csv \> outfile * * * 1. ABC ---
**Author:** ![mehimadri](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/mehimadri/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@mehimadri](https://community.unix.com/u/mehimadri)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/3 "2010-11-30T01:14:46Z")
Hello kevintse, Sorry I failed to mentioned that the values I have to check are not 'A','B','C' but string values like 'Asia','Casablanca','Brando' So the condition should be: If "ColB" is NOT NULL and "ColD" has values one of the following ('Asia','Casablanca','Brando') the show the records Sorry for the goof-up. In this case how will teh awk command be.. Thanks in Advance!! ---
**Author:** ![Chubler\_XL](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/chubler_xl/32/2077_2.png) [@Chubler\_XL](https://community.unix.com/u/Chubler_XL)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/4 "2010-11-30T01:34:13Z")
```nohighlight awk -F"|" 'BEGIN { B["Asia"]=B["Casablanca"]=B["Brando"]=1; } $2 && ($4 in B) ' InputFile.csv > outfile ``` If you have many more than 3 criteria (our you may change them) you should consider loading the criteria from another file: ```nohighlight awk -F"|" 'NR==FNR { B[$1]=1; Next } $2 && ($4 in B) ' CritFile.txt InputFile.csv > outfile ``` ---
**Author:** ![mehimadri](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/mehimadri/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@mehimadri](https://community.unix.com/u/mehimadri)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/5 "2010-11-30T02:16:47Z")
Hi, When I tried the command I received the following error: $ cat InputFile.csv ColA|ColB|ColC|ColD|ColE|ColF 1|A|B|Asia|E|F 1||C|Asia|E|F 2|B|C|Casablanca|E|F 3|B|C|Brando|E|F $ awk -F"|" 'BEGIN { B["Asia"]=B["Casablanca"]=B["Brando"]=1; } $2 && ($4 in B) ' InputFile.csv \> outfile awk: syntax error near line 1 awk: bailing out near line 1 Please help me in this. Thanks in Advance!! ---
**Author:** ![Scrutinizer](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/scrutinizer/32/1216_2.png) [@Scrutinizer](https://community.unix.com/u/Scrutinizer)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/6 "2010-11-30T02:46:54Z")
```nohighlight nawk -F\| '$2&&$4~/^(Brando|Casablanca|Asia)$/' InputFile.csv > outfile ``` ---
**Author:** ![ygemici](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/ygemici/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@ygemici](https://community.unix.com/u/ygemici)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/7 "2010-11-30T05:27:56Z")
```nohighlight x=($(sed '=' infile | sed -n 'N;s/\n/ /;p'|sed -n 's/[^]|*[^|]*|*[^]|*\(Asia\|Casablanca\|Brando\).*/\1/p'|sed 's/[^0-9]\|//g;/^$/d') ) for i in ${x[@]} ; do sed -n "$i p" infile ; done 1|A|B|Asia|E|F 2|B|C|Casablanca|E|F 3|B|C|Brando|E|F ``` ---
**Author:** ![rdcwayx](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/rdcwayx/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@rdcwayx](https://community.unix.com/u/rdcwayx)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 5:42am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/8 "2010-11-30T05:42:46Z")
> [@scrutinizer](#): > > ```plaintext > nawk -F\| '$2&&$4~/^(Brando|Casablanca|Asia)$/' InputFile.csv > outfile > > ``` I knew you try to short the code, but there is a bug in it, if $2=0, it is not null 🙂 $ cat infile ColA|0|ColC|Asia|ColE|ColF $ nawk -F\| '$2&&$4~/^(Brando|Casablanca|Asia)$/' infile ---
**Author:** ![Scrutinizer](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/scrutinizer/32/1216_2.png) [@Scrutinizer](https://community.unix.com/u/Scrutinizer)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/9 "2010-11-30T05:44:57Z")
Well spotted.. Thanks ```nohighlight nawk -F\| '$2""&&$4~/^(Brando|Casablanca|Asia)$/' InputFile.csv > outfile ``` ---
**Author:** ![Chubler\_XL](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/chubler_xl/32/2077_2.png) [@Chubler\_XL](https://community.unix.com/u/Chubler_XL)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/extract-file-records-based-on-some-field-conditions/278178/10 "2010-11-30T12:22:44Z")
> [@rdcwayx](#): > > I knew you try to short the code, but there is a bug in it, if $2=0, it is not null 🙂 The original requirement was for 2nd field is non-null, lol