shell - how to add space to the string in bash, and make it look like a table output?

Question

(Closed). This question needs details or clarity. It is not currently accepting answers. question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66057398/how-to-add-space-to-the-string-in-bash-and-make-it-look-like-a-table-output

Answer 1

It can all be done in awk with two rules. You can handle outputting the first part of the heading in the second rule, saving all fields in the array a[], and then the second rule will output the needed elements of a[] and the current fields in the format you specify. For example:

Set '|' as the field separator wtih -F'|', and

awk -F'|' '
    FNR > 1 {                                           # record (line) > 1
        if (FNR == 2)                                   # if line is 2
            print "| " $2                               # finish heading row
        for (i=3;i<=NF;i+=2)                            # loop from 3rd field by 2
            printf (i==3?"|":"") "%s: %s ",a[i],$i    # output info
        for (i=4;i<=NF;i+=2)                            # loop from 4th field by 2
            printf (i==4?"
|":"") "%s: %s ",a[i],$i  # output info
        print ""                                        # tidy up with newline
        delete a                                        # clear the array
        for (i=1; i<=NF; i++)                           # fill array with current fields
            a[i]=$i
        next                                            # skip to next line
    }
    {
        printf "%s", $2                                 # output 1st part of heading
        for (i=1; i<=NF; i++)                           # fill array with current fields
            a[i]=$i
    }
' file

The order of execution is a bit backwards. The rule handling the first line is actually the last rule above between the bottom {...} the top rule handles the second line on.

Example Use/Output

With your input in the file named file, you can just select-copy the above and middle-mouse paste into an xterm with the current directory containing file to test, e.g.:

awk -F'|' '
>     FNR > 1 {                                           # record (line) > 1
>         if (FNR == 2)                                   # if line is 2
>             print "| " $2                               # finish heading row
>         for (i=3;i<=NF;i+=2)                            # loop from 3rd field by 2
>             printf (i==3?"|":"") "%s: %s ",a[i],$i    # output info
>         for (i=4;i<=NF;i+=2)                            # loop from 4th field by 2
>             printf (i==4?"
|":"") "%s: %s ",a[i],$i  # output info
>         print ""                                        # tidy up with newline
>         delete a                                        # clear the array
>         for (i=1; i<=NF; i++)                           # fill array with current fields
>             a[i]=$i
>         next                                            # skip to next line
>     }
>     {
>         printf "%s", $2                                 # output 1st part of heading
>         for (i=1; i<=NF; i++)                           # fill array with current fields
>             a[i]=$i
>     }
> ' file
place_loc| AAAAA_AAA
|CATA: 1234     CATA1: 12
|CATB: 123      CATB1: 1234

The output above is:

place_loc| AAAAA_AAA
|CATA: 1234     CATA1: 12
|CATB: 123      CATB1: 1234