text re-formatting

[allyourzigg]

Hello, I would like to take a text file look for the occurence of a word and then insert dashes 2 lines above that word to seperate a file into logical sections is this possible to do in bash alone, or do I have to use another language?

[pmasiar]

I would go with Python, something simple like:



matchwords = ["a", "b", "c"]
for line in open("path/to/file.txt"):
for word in line.split(" "):
if word in matchwords:
# print whatever you want

[allyourzigg]

python sounds good, but what you said doesn't seem to do what I wan't it to, plus if this is possible in bash it would be even better

[pmasiar]

It is not obvious to me what "insert 2 dashes" means - but you have the line and the word, do whatever you feel.

I use Python for mostly everything. It is one language to learn to do it all :-)

[allyourzigg]

I meant like this but I cannot figure out how to make it place the dashed line there
-----

http://

[ghostdog74]

an awk script


awk ' /searchstring/ { print previous2"\n--\n" }
{
previous2=previous1
previous1 = $0

}
{print } ' "file"

[allyourzigg]

ghostdog that is SO close to what I want ! I knew you could do this in the shell. One problem though, the output from that looks like this:


MIT Dean Resigns After Claims About Resume Surface

--

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268946,00.html

Marilee Jones falsely bolstered her credentials to get a job with MIT, and
over the course of her career claimed to have earned degrees from three
schools.


when what I need is something like this


-----------------------------
MIT Dean Resigns After Claims About Resume Surface
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268946,00.html

Marilee Jones falsely bolstered her credentials to get a job with MIT, and
over the course of her career claimed to have earned degrees from three
schools.

that way the news items are seperate and no one gets their eyes burnt out trying to find them. thanks for the help so far

[ghostdog74]

hmm..you could modify the search string? mayb you want to show the actual input file?

[allyourzigg]

I can't think of a different search string because the only thing that remains constant is the http in front of the links, ( news titles change and so do their summaries ) here is a sample of the updated news feed after the html has been striped out by links -dump. This is technically ready for printing but I think you'll agree when I say it's difficult to tell where an article summary ends and the next begins.

Feds: Tour Buses Used to Traffic Drugs Across United States
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269052,00.html

Three men face federal charges in connection with a drug ring that used
tour buses to move millions of dollars and marijuana between Detroit and
Tucson, Ariz.

Iditarod Organizers Hear Testimony of Alleged Dog Abuse
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269044,00.html

Iditarod dog race organizers heard testimony from mushers and others on
Friday as they determined the punishment for a musher disqualified for
allegedly abusing his dogs during the race.

NYPD Arrests Suspect in Mugging of 101-Year-Old Woman
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269042,00.html

New York City police say they have arrested a man on Friday in the mugging
last month of a 101-year-old woman.

that is the raw feed after html is striped, I would like to make it look like the below sample after being processed by something , lets say awk scince it's the closest I've gotten so far.


-----------------------------------------
Feds: Tour Buses Used to Traffic Drugs Across United States
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269052,00.html

Three men face federal charges in connection with a drug ring that used
tour buses to move millions of dollars and marijuana between Detroit and
Tucson, Ariz.
-----------------------------------------
Iditarod Organizers Hear Testimony of Alleged Dog Abuse
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269044,00.html

Iditarod dog race organizers heard testimony from mushers and others on
Friday as they determined the punishment for a musher disqualified for
allegedly abusing his dogs during the race.
-----------------------------------------
NYPD Arrests Suspect in Mugging of 101-Year-Old Woman
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269042,00.html

New York City police say they have arrested a man on Friday in the mugging
last month of a 101-year-old woman.
I hope this is possible

[ghostdog74]

that's quite difficult if you don't know your search string. the only thing i see from your sample output is for every second blank line you inserted dashes


awk ' /^$/ { c++ }
c%2==0 {
for (i=0;i<60;i++) dash= dash"-"
sub(/^$/,dash,$0)
}
{print ;dash=""}
' "file"

output:


./test.sh
Feds: Tour Buses Used to Traffic Drugs Across United States
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269052,00.html

Three men face federal charges in connection with a drug ring that used
tour buses to move millions of dollars and marijuana between Detroit and
Tucson, Ariz.
------------------------------------------------------------
Iditarod Organizers Hear Testimony of Alleged Dog Abuse
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269044,00.html

Iditarod dog race organizers heard testimony from mushers and others on
Friday as they determined the punishment for a musher disqualified for
allegedly abusing his dogs during the race.
------------------------------------------------------------
NYPD Arrests Suspect in Mugging of 101-Year-Old Woman
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269042,00.html

New York City police say they have arrested a man on Friday in the mugging
last month of a 101-year-old woman.


this is the closest i can give you.

[allyourzigg]

thats absolutly perfect!!
Thank you so much for your time and effort, I really need to learn how to use awk and sed but the man pages are so confusing, thanks again!