select contents between two delimiters (not working if newline in encountered)

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi,

I am facing difficulties in selecting the contents between two delimiters when there is a new line occurs..

Eg:

>more sample.txt
abcd -- this is the first line %
efgh-- this is the 
second line and not 
able to print %
ijkl -- this is the 3rd line %
```[/b]

when i search for abcd and use the below command , i am able to print the desired contents between '--' and '%'.
But the same i am not able to print in the case of 'efgh' . Its only printing the 1st line of that word found.

pls tell me what correction to be included in this code.. or suggest me the code for this .

```text
grep -w efgh sample.txt | awk -F"-" '{print $2}' | awk -F"||" '{print $1}'

Required output : this is the
second line and not
able to print

thanks in advance.
:-):slight_smile:

2

code

 nawk  '1' ORS="  "  file.txt | nawk '{print $4}' FS="--|%"

the above code will print :-

"this is the second line and not able to print" in one line.

BR

3

try:

#  sed -n '/efgh/,/%/{s/efgh-- //;s/%//;p;}' sample.txt
this is the
second line and not
able to print

HTH

4

This is fine.. but i want it generalised. I mean i should be able to give input text to it..

---------- Post updated at 05:10 AM ---------- Previous update was at 05:08 AM ----------

#sed -n '/efgh/,/%/{s/efgh-- //;s/%//;p;}' sample.txt

This gives the desired output for that 'efgh'
But does not give correct output for 'abcd'..
pls suggest

sed -n '/abcd/,/%/{s/efgh-- //;s/%//;p;}' sample.txt
abcd -- this is the first line
this is the
second line and not
able to print
[KRYPTON]/appltgb/test/repc/balaji >

---------- Post updated at 05:23 AM ---------- Previous update was at 05:10 AM ----------

can u pls suggest a generalised code for the problem stated above.

5

code

nawk  '1' ORS="  "  input_file | nawk '{print $2,$4,$6}' OFS="\n"  FS="--|%" > output_file

more input_file:-

abcd -- this is the first line %
efgh-- this is the 
second line and not 
able to print %
ijkl -- this is the 3rd line %

more output_file:-

this is the first line
this is the  second line and not  able to print
this is the 3rd line
6

well this is good. But when i change the input file ,,i mean if i insert two more lines..it will not work..pls suggest a code that will help me even if i change the input file. the objecive is to give a input file , a word to search in it. once the word found then print the contents corresponding to the word from '--' to '%' and stop.
Am i clear . ?

7

Why don't you try something for yourself with all the the solutions given to you?

This is not a helpdesk service, we're not here to do your work for you.

8

code:

nawk  -v RS="%\n" -v FS="--"  '/pattern you look for/{print $2}'  input_file > output_file

I hope this will satisfy you.

BR

9

ahmad thank u very much..