On Mon, 28 Jul 2003, Post, Mark K wrote:
> John,
>
> You can specify multiple things for sed to do on each record:
> sed -e 's/\(.\{0,72\}\).*/\1/' -e 's/ *$//' infile > outfile
You can do that, yes, but I prefer something that sprains the brain
less.
Some people beaver away endlessly, it seems, to create the most concise
possible expression or script to do some little chore.
Me, I prefer something easier to read (and write).
>
> For column-specific stuff, you can also use the cut command:
> cut -c1-71 infile | sed -e 's/ *$//' > outfile
This sprains the brain much less than the first: I don't care which is
more expensive to run, this I reckon is far cheaper to write (and
maintain),
I'd go a little further, though, and spread it over several lines.
--
Cheers
John.
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