Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!umich!sharkey!sbcs!csserv2!gmarcus
From: gmarcus@csserv2.ic.sunysb.edu (Glenn Marcus)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: RE: Is AWK up to this application?
Message-ID: <1990Oct6.031701.20718@sbcs.sunysb.edu>
Date: 6 Oct 90 03:17:01 GMT
Sender: usenet@sbcs.sunysb.edu (Usenet poster)
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Lines: 28
Originator: gmarcus@csserv2

--------------------- CUT HERE ------------  CUT HERE  --------------------

# TO RUN type at the command line ::>>
#        awk -f program.awk < data.yours

# The following is a solution to matching variable field lengths in
# a text file.  Using the assumption that all fields will form columns,
# one could extract a substring from the current line of the fixed
# length of each field.

# ie  f1 starts at position  1 and continues for 19 characters
#     f2 starts at position 20 and continues for 24 characters
#     f3 exists at position 45 and continues for .. characters

# you just need to determine all the boundaries for the columns and use
# the AWK substr routine to extract that field.  Then you can append it
# altogether with the print command separated by newlines (\n)


 { f1 = substr($0,1,19);
   f2 = substr($0,21,24);
   #  extract more fields here!!

   print f1 "\n" f2 "\n"   # place more field names here as needed.
 }

# Glenn Marcus                                    gmarcus@ic.sunysb.edu
# SUNY Stony Brook