BASH: importing data from flat file into template

Question

I have a flat file of records, each 33 lines long. I need to format this file to specs in a template. The template is in DOS format while the source file is in NIX format. The template has specific indenting and spacing which must be adhered to. I've thought of a few options:

• BASH with classic nix tools: sed, awk, grep etc...
• BASH with template toolkit
• Perl eith template toolkit
• Perl

These are in order of my familiarity. Here's a sample source record ( NIX format ): I've reduced the number of newlines to save space ( normally 33 lines ):

JACKSON HOLE SANITARIUM AND REPTILE ZOO
45 GREASY HOLLER LN
JACKSON HOLE, AK   99999


Change Service Requested


BUBBA HOTEP
3 DELIVERANCE RD
MINNEAPOLIS, MN   99998


BUBBA HOTEP 09090909090909

You have a hold available for pickup as of 2012-01-04:

Title: Banjo for Fun and Profit
Author: Williams, Billy Dee
Price: $10 

Here's the template ( DOS format -- lines reduced - 66 lines normally):

     <%BRANCH-NAME%>
     <%BRANCH-ADDR%>
     <%BRANCH-CTY%>


<%CUST-NAME%> <%BARCODE%>
You have a hold available for pickup as of <%DATE%>:

Title: <%TITLE%>
Author: <%AUTHOR%>
Price: <%PRICE%>


             <%CUST-NAME%>
             <%CUST-ADDR%>
             <%CUST-CTY%>

end of file

It actually does say "end of file" at the end of each record.

Thoughts? I tend to over-complicate things.

UPDATE2

Figured it out.

My answer is below. Feel free to suggest improvements.

Answer 1

This is what I am using for this project. Feel free to suggest improvements, or, submit better solutions.

cp $FILE $WORKING # we won't mess with original

NUM_RECORDS=$( grep "^Price:" "$FILE" | wc -l ) # need to know how many records we have 
                                              # counting occurences of end of record r

TMP=record.txt # holds single record, used as temp storage in loop below

# Sanity
# Make sure temp storage exists. If not create -- if so, clear it.
[ ! -f $TMP ] && touch $TMP || cat /dev/null >$TMP

# functions
function make_template () {
    local _file="$1"
    mapfile -t filecontent < "$_file"
    _loc_name="${filecontent[0]}"
    _loc_strt="${filecontent[1]}"
    _loc_city="${filecontent[2]}"
    _pat_name="${filecontent[14]}"
    _pat_addr="${filecontent[15]}"
    _pat_city="${filecontent[16]}"
    _barcode=${filecontent[27]:(-14)} # pull barcode from end of string
    _date=${filecontent[29]:(-11)}    # pull date from end of string
    # Test title length - truncate if necessary - 70 chars.
    _title=$(grep -E "^Title:" $_file)
    MAXLEN=70
    [ "${#_title}" -gt "$MAXLEN" ] && _title="${filecontent[31]:0:70}" || :
    _auth=$(grep -E "^Author:" $_file)
    _price=$(grep -E "^Price:" $_file)
    sed "
        s@<%BRANCH-NAME%>@${_loc_name}@g
        s@<%BRANCH-ADDR%>@${_loc_strt}@g
        s@<%BRANCH-CTY%>@${_loc_city}@g
        s@<%CUST-NAME%>@${_pat_name}@g
        s@<%CUST-ADDR%>@${_pat_addr}@
        s@<%CUST-CTY%>@${_pat_city}@
        s@<%BARCODE%>@${_barcode}@g
        s@<%DATE%>@${_date}@
        s@<%TITLE%>@${_title}@
        s@<%AUTHOR%>@${_auth}@
        s@<%PRICE%>@${_price}@" "$TEMPLATE"
}

####################################
#  MAIN
####################################

for((i=1;i<="$NUM_RECORDS";i++))
do
    sed -n '1,/^Price:/{p;}' "$WORKING" >"$TMP"  # copy first record with end of record
                                                # and copy to temp storage.

    sed -i '1,/^Price:/d' "$WORKING"             # delete first record using EOR regex.
    make_template "$TMP"                        # send temp file/record to template fu
done

# cleanup
exit 0