adding and removing fields to a text file

Question

Can anyone help with a script (probably awk printf related) that will take my delimited file, remove some unwated fields and add some additional fields throught the file:

eg

1,4,fd,4r54,3,,4454

if i wanted to keep fields 1,2,4,7 and add in two empty fields between fields 4 and 7 so the output would look like

1,4,4r54,,,4454

Is this possible?

M

Answer 1

You can do that with:

awk -F , '{ printf "%s,%s,%s,,,%s\n" , $1 , $2 , $4 , $7 }' file

Answer 2

If you already have the delimited file, than this should be very easy. At the top, it should list all of the fields, just take out the ones you do not want, and insert the ones you do want. I warn you though, with will effect all of the entries that are currently in the file. I would use a program like Excel or open offices version of Excel to do this with a file that currently has entries.

If you need anymore help, please comment, I will try to help as much as possible.

Good Luck-