script or command to check for delimiters

[MAD_2]

I have a few hundred rows of data that had to be scrubbed and I now need to check the data integrity of all rows by making sure all of the fields are present in each.

The delimiter used was pipes "|" and there should be a total of 14 en each row. How can I check that for each row there are a total of 14 pipes and to show me those rows that do not have the 14 pipes?

Thanks!

[curt larson_1]

cat file |
awk -F"\|" '{ if ( NF != 15 )
printf("line %d, %s\n",NR,$0);}'

[curt larson_1 · Accepted solution]

and for a little more information

cat file |
awk -F"\|" '{ if ( NF != 15 ){
if ( NF < 2 ) delim=0;
else delim=NF--;
printf("line %d, delimiters = %d, %s\n",NR,delim,$0);}
}'

[john korterman]

Hi,
a traditional, slow approach. Try running it with $1 as input file:

#!/usr/bin/sh
# Check CORRECT num of delim in $1

typeset -i NUM_CHARS=0 AFTER_DEL=0 DIFF=0 LINE_NO=1 CORRECT=14
typeset DELIM="\|"
echo "Line_no\tDelim_no\tLine"
while read line
do
NUM_CHARS=$(echo "$line"| wc -c)
AFTER_DEL=$(echo "$line" | tr -d $DELIM |wc -c)
DIFF=$(( $NUM_CHARS - $AFTER_DEL ))
if [ "$DIFF" != "$CORRECT" ]
then
echo "$LINE_NO\t$DIFF\t$line"
fi
LINE_NO=$(( $LINE_NO + 1))
done <$1

regards,
John K.