When your field-terminating char appears within field values

Posted by Jonathan Sampson on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Jonathan Sampson
Published on 2010-05-18T15:28:24Z Indexed on 2010/05/18 15:41 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 442

Filed under:

linux

|

command-line

|

sorting

I've had a very colorful morning learning the innerparts of Linux's sort command, and have come across yet another issue that I can't seem to find an answer for in the documentation.

I'm currently using -t, to indicate that my fields are split by the comma character, but I'm finding that in some of my files, the comma is used (between double-quotes) within values:

Jonathan Sampson,,[email protected],0987654321
"Foobar CEO,","CEO,",[email protected],,

How can I use a comma to terminate my fields, but ignore the occurences of it within values? Is this fairly simple, or do I need to re-export all of my data using a more-foreign field-terminator?

© Super User or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about command-line

WMI permissions: Select CommandLine, ProcessId FROM Win32_Process returns no data for CommandLine

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi all, I am gathering performance data via WMI and would like to avoid having to use an account in the Administrators group for this purpose. The target machine is running Windows Server 2003 with the latest SP/updates. I've done what I believe to be the appropriate configuration to allow our user… >>> More
WMI permissions: Select CommandLine, ProcessId FROM Win32_Process returns no data for CommandLine

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am gathering performance data via WMI and would like to avoid having to use an account in the Administrators group for this purpose. The target machine is running Windows Server 2003 with the latest SP/updates. I've done what I believe to be the appropriate configuration to allow our user access… >>> More
Java 1.5 Command Line Password Masking

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
All, Our server is running Java 1.5 and I am having difficulty trying to mask user input from the command line. I am executing a jar file (java -jar my.jar) and am working through command line prompts via printlns. I cannot use Java Console. Thanks >>> More
Modifying AD Schema permissions from the command line

as seen on Geeks with Blogs - Search for 'Geeks with Blogs'
Recently while making some changes for a client, I accidently dug myself into a pretty deep hole. I was trying to explicitly deny a certain user from reading a few group policies including the Default Domain Policy. When I went in to make the change I accidently denied Authenticated Users rather… >>> More
Ask the Readers: Do You Use the Command Line?

as seen on How to geek - Search for 'How to geek'
Most people have heard of it but not everyone is familiar or comfortable with how to use this bastion of geekdom. This week we would like to know if you use the command line or not. The command line…the bastion of ultimate geekery in many peoples’ eyes. You often hear people referring to doing… >>> More