Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!mrsvr.UUCP
From: davej@mrsvr.UUCP (David Johnson x4-6506)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Shell Database Management (?)
Message-ID: <956@mrsvr.UUCP>
Date: 31 Aug 89 16:31:30 GMT
References: <10596@dasys1.UUCP>
Sender: news@mrsvr.UUCP
Distribution: usa
Lines: 29

From article <10596@dasys1.UUCP>, by parsnips@dasys1.UUCP (David Parsons):

> The problem... the database consists of addresses... positions 99 and 100
> in each record contain a two-position abbreviation for the state.  It's easy
> to get cut to read those two characters, and grep to identify the state I
> want to extract, but how the ^#$&! do you then copy the ENTIRE record 
> thus identified to another file???  Using grep alone is no good because 
> the abbreviation appears in various other places in the record...
> 
> David Parsons
> Big Electric Cat Public UNIX

I tried e-mail and it bounced and bounced and . . .

Assume your "database" (file) is called database.
Assume your state abbreviation is in a shell vbl called $abbr

Try this:

cut -c99,100 database | grep -n "$abbr" | sed 's/:..*$/p/' | ed - foo

This should print all of the matching lines on stdout.

Good Luck.

--
David J. Johnson - Computer People Unlimited, Inc. @ GE Medical Systems
gemed!python!davej@crd.ge.com  - OR - sun!sunbird!gemed!python!davej
  "What a terrible thing it is to lose one's mind." - Dan Quayle