IMHO, column is one of the most underestimated utilities in UNIX. Every utility should output different information if they are running in a terminal or not. That way, shell scripting would be more straightforward.
While column - ts '<tab>' does help, it has some limitations. One
can't specify per-column separator, or alignment. Here's where algn
comes handy.
algn takes a file, and aligns its columns (-a), and uses specified
separators to show them (-s). For example, given:
00 00 01 command
00 00 01 commandsssssssssss
00 00 01 commanddddddddddddddddd
600 00 01 command
00 00 01 command
00 00 01 command
algn -a ',,,l' -s ':,.' outputs:
00:00.01 command
00:00.01 commandsssssssssss
00:00.01 commanddddddddddddddddd
600:00.01 command
00:00.01 command
00:00.01 command
a option receives aligners in the style: '<aligner>,'; where <aligner>
is "l" or "r".
s option receives separators in the same style: '<separator>'; where
<separator> can be any string _except_ one containing one or more
commas (this will be fixed).
As the comment says, awk program is mostly Steffen Schuler's work; and
I thank him.
I thought maybe could give it use, so I share it with you.
Greetings!
#!/bin/sh
# Copyright (c) 2006, 2007 Andres Delfino <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
#
# Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
# purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
# copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
# WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
# MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
# ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
# WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
# ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
# OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
# awk program is 99% Steffen Schuler's work.
name="${0##*/}"
exit_status=0
aligners=
separators=
function show_usage
{
printf 'Usage: %s [-a aligners] [-s separators] [file ...]\n' "${name}"
>& 2
exit 1
}
while getopts ':a:s:' ch; do
case "${ch}" in
( a )
aligners="${OPTARG}"
;;
( s )
separators="${OPTARG}"
;;
( ? )
printf 'Invalid option.\n' >& 2
show_usage
;;
esac
done
shift "$((${OPTIND} - 1))"
awk_program='
\
BEGIN
\
{
\
FS = " ";
\
aligners = split("'"${aligners}"'", aligner, ",");
\
separators = split("'"${separators}"'", separator, ",");
\
}
\
\
{
\
for (field = 1; field <= NF; ++field)
\
{
\
fields[NR,field] = $field;
\
field_length = length($field);
\
\
if (field_length > max_field_length[field])
\
max_field_length[field] = field_length;
\
}
\
}
\
\
END
\
{
\
for (record = 1; record <= NR; ++record)
\
{
\
for (field = 1; record SUBSEP field in fields; ++field)
\
{
\
if (field > 1)
\
if (field - 1 <= separators)
\
printf("%s", separator[field - 1]);
\
else
\
printf(" ");
\
\
string = "%";
\
\
if (field <= aligners && aligner[field] == "l")
\
string = string "-";
\
\
string = string "*s";
\
printf(string, max_field_length[field],
fields[record,field]); \
}
\
\
printf("\n");
\
}
\
}
\
'
if [ "${#}" -ge 1 ]; then
while [ "${1}" ]; do
if [ -e "${1}" ]; then
if [ -f "${1}" ]; then
if [ -r "${1}" ]; then
awk "${awk_program}" "${1}"
else
printf '%s: %s: Permission to read from
file not granted\n'
"${name}" "${1}" >& 2
exit_status=4
fi
else
printf '%s: %s: File is not a regular file\n'
"${name}" "${1}" >& 2
exit_status=3
fi
else
printf '%s: %s: File does not exist\n' "${name}" "${1}"
>& 2
exit_status=2
fi
shift
done
elif ! [ -t 0 ]; then
awk "${awk_program}"
else
show_usage
fi
exit "${exit_status}"
