Tab stop conversion

[cbres00]

How do I convert tabs in a unix file to pipes?
Thanks in advance.
Cathy

[Paddy_1]

try the translate command called "tr"

tr "\t" "|" < infile > outfile

should solve your problem

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi Cathy:

# sed sed 's//|/'g filename > filename.new

Note that instead of you should actually press the TAB key.

Regards!

...JRF...

[cbres00]

Do I need an option? I get
"usage tr [ -cds ] ...."
message.

[cbres00]

James' solution worked.
I didn't know I could use the tab key in a sed command. I thought I had to have an ascii character to translate. Very cool!
Thanks to all.
Cathy

[Chris Vail]

I have a different take on the tr command:
cat $INFILE|tr "\t" "|">>$OUTFILE

You could also use sed instead.


Chris

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Cathy:

I might add that some 'sed' versions, like the GNU one (but not the HP-UX version) support '\t' to denote the TAB character.

Regards!

...JRF...