write into file by changing the file to rtf - awk

Question

i am stumbling over one thing:

i am sorting a bunch of files in awk and saving the sorted particles as txt. but now i need to save them as .doc and especially in landscape format. i googled a lot and found out that the only way of doing this is save the file as doc but during creating the file, write these rtf code into file and then write the real content into file.

rtf start-tag code:

{\rtf1\ansi\deff0 {\fonttbl {\f0 Courier;}}
{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red255\green0\blue0;}
\landscape
\paperw15840\paperh12240\margl720\margr720\margt720\margb720

and rtf close-tag:

}

the close tag will be written after the last line of the file as the last line into the new created file.

my problem is, how can i find the last line of the file inside the awk before coming to END.

this is my code. http://pastebin.com/mfjH4NYY it is huge code to know what is happenning, but the point is: the fnnID is not available in the END tag, thru this, a new file will be created if i try to append the } char to close the rtf format. can someone help me figure out the clue?

thanks a lot

Answer 1

Let's say you'll have a function write_header(filepath) that will write the RTF header into a file. Make this function record in some global variable all the filepaths it was passed. Then, in your END, loop over these filepaths and write the RTF footer into them.

As for your new "ls -l" question: I don't see why you need to use it.

Here's what I suggested:

function write_header(filepath) {
  print "{\\rtf1\\ans .... " >> filepath
  tracked[max_header++] = filepath
}

BEGIN {
  # You don't have to write the headers in BEGIN. Just make sure it's the
  # first thing you write to the files.
  write_header("file1.doc")
  write_header("file2.doc")
  write_header("another_file.doc")
}

END {
  # Write the footers.
  for(i in tracked) {
    print "}" >> tracked[i]
  }
}