I have a file 0.txt
containing the following value fields contents in parentheses:
(bread,milk,),
(rice,brand B,),
(pan,eggs,Brandc,),
I'm looking in OS and elsewhere for how to prepend the letter x
to the beginning of each value between commas so that my output file becomes (using bash unix):
(xbread,xmilk,),
(xrice,xbrand B,),
(xpan,xeggs,xBrand C,),
the only thing I've really tried but not enough is:
awk '{gsub(/,/,",x");print}' 0.txt
for all purposes the prefix should not be applied to the last commas at the end of each line.
With awk
awk 'BEGIN{FS=OFS=","}{$1="(x"substr($1,2);for(i=2;i<=NF-2;i++){$i="x"$i}}1'
Explanation:
# Before you start, set the input and output delimiter
BEGIN{
FS=OFS=","
}
# The first field is special, the x has to be inserted
# after the opening (
$1="(x"substr($1,2)
# Prepend 'x' from field 2 until the previous to last field
for(i=2;i<=NF-2;i++){
$i="x"$i
}
# 1 is always true. awk will print in that case
1