Lum – Aligning columns using awk

awkcolumns

I am trying to align these columns

super+t sticky toggle
super+Shift+space floating toggle
super+Shift+r restart
super+Shift+d mode $mode_launcher
super+Shift+c reload
super+r mode resize
super+Return i3-sensible-terminal
super+q kill
super+n Nautilus scratchpad show
super+m neomutt scratchpad show
super+minus scratchpad show
super+f fullscreen toggle
super+c bar mode toggle
super+button2 kill
super+alt+x systemctl -i suspend
super+alt+v cmus
super+alt+m neomutt
super+alt+c ~/bin/editinvim
super+alt+b ranger

I have tried to use awk but no luck there.
The preferred format is like

super+Shift+d     mode $mode_launcher     
super+alt+c       ~/bin/editinvim
super+alt+b       ranger

Best Answer

You could re-print the first column, left-justified in a suitably wide field:

$ awk '{$1 = sprintf("%-30s", $1)} 1' file
super+t                        sticky toggle
super+Shift+space              floating toggle
super+Shift+r                  restart
super+Shift+d                  mode $mode_launcher
super+Shift+c                  reload
super+r                        mode resize
super+Return                   i3-sensible-terminal
super+q                        kill
super+n                        Nautilus scratchpad show
super+m                        neomutt scratchpad show
super+minus                    scratchpad show
super+f                        fullscreen toggle
super+c                        bar mode toggle
super+button2                  kill
super+alt+x                    systemctl -i suspend
super+alt+v                    cmus
super+alt+m                    neomutt
super+alt+c                    ~/bin/editinvim
super+alt+b                    ranger

If you want to choose a suitable width automatically based on the length of column 1, then:

awk '
  NR==FNR {w = length($1) > w ? length($1) : w; next} 
  {$1 = sprintf("%-*s", w+4, $1)} 
  1
' file file

Related Solutions

Lum – AWK – a question about columns

This works in one pass through the file, and does not need to store the whole file in memory. It does keep open file descriptors for each destination file.

awk -F '\t' '
    NR==FNR {population[$1]=$2; next}
    FNR==1 {
        for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) {
            destination[i] = population[$i] ".txt"
        }
    }
    {
        delete separator
        for (i=1; i<=NF; i++) {
            printf "%s%s", separator[destination[i]], $i > destination[i]
            separator[destination[i]] = FS
        }
        for (file in separator) {
            printf "\n" > file
        }
    }
' populations.txt database.txt

Lum – Using awk to identify the number identical columns

You can count the unique columns with following pipe:

$ awk '{for (i=1; i<=NF; ++i) a[i]=a[i]$i; } END { for (i in a) print a[i] }' foo \
  | sort -u | wc -l

The awk command transposes your input, the resulting lines are sorted, only unique lines are kept (-u) and at the end all (unique) lines (i.e. the transposed columns) are counted (wc -l).

Note that NF is a builtin awk variable and is automatically set to the number of fields in the current record. $i references the i-th field and END guards the following block such that it is executed after all records are processed. Awk uses by default blank-non-blank field delimiting.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Lum – AWK – a question about columns

Lum – Using awk to identify the number identical columns

Related Question