Hi

On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:57:59 -0700, sinbad wrote:
> .....
> ABC (x,y,z,a,b,c)
> ABC (x,y,z,a,b,c)
> ABC (x,y,z,a,b,c)
> .....
>
> how can i grep for z here, z can be anything but it always occurs at the
> same position.
> ABC is a constant here.

grep '^ABC ([^,]*,[^,*],z,[^,*],[^,*],[^,*])$'

On Sep 15, 12:01*pm, viza
wrote:
> Hi
>
> On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:57:59 -0700, sinbad wrote:
> > .....
> > ABC (x,y,z,a,b,c)
> > ABC (x,y,z,a,b,c)
> > ABC (x,y,z,a,b,c)
> > .....
>
> > how can i grep for z here, z can be anything but it always occurs at the
> > same position.
> > ABC is a constant here.
>
> grep '^ABC ([^,]*,[^,*],z,[^,*],[^,*],[^,*])$'


i think i didn't explain well,

......
ABC (x,y,one,a,b,c)
ABC (x,y,two,a,b,c)
ABC (x,y,three,a,b,c)
......

In the above text i need to get the output as

one
two
three

thanks

sinbad writes:

> i think i didn't explain well,
>
> .....
> ABC (x,y,one,a,b,c)
> ABC (x,y,two,a,b,c)
> ABC (x,y,three,a,b,c)
> .....
>
> In the above text i need to get the output as
>
> one
> two
> three

grep ^ABC test | cut -d, -f3

--
Ben.

On Sep 15, 3:25*pm, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
> sinbad writes:
>
>
>
> > i think i didn't explain well,
>
> > .....
> > ABC (x,y,one,a,b,c)
> > ABC (x,y,two,a,b,c)
> > ABC (x,y,three,a,b,c)
> > .....
>
> > In the above text i need to get the output as
>
> > one
> > two
> > three
>
> * grep ^ABC test | cut -d, -f3
>
> --
> Ben.


ABC (x,y,one,a,b,c)

but what if the above text is not always in a single line,It can span
multiple lines (which usually is the case for me)
like

ABC (x,y,
one,a,
b,
c)

ABC (x,y,
two,a,
b,c)

ABC (x,y,
three,
a,b,c)

ABC (x,
y,four,a,b,c)

Even in the above case, i need to get the output as

one
two
three
four

I am wondering if it's atleast possible with grep.

thanks

On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:51:21 -0700, sinbad wrote:
>> sinbad writes:

>> > i need to get the output as
>> > one

> ABC (x,y,
> one,a,
> b,
> c)


sed -f foo.sed

where foo.sed contains:

/^ABC/bn
d
:n
/,[[:space:]]*$/N
/,[[:space:]]*\n/s//,/
tn
s/^[^,]*,[^,]*,\([^,]*\),.*$/\1/
t
d

On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:29:06 +0000, viza wrote:

> /^ABC/bn
> d
> :n
> /,[[:space:]]*$/N
> /,[[:space:]]*\n/s//,/
> tn
> s/^[^,]*,[^,]*,\([^,]*\),.*$/\1/
> t
> d

NB: this requires that each broken line ends with a comma (and optional
space).

NB2: this silently discards ABC(...) without enough argument

On Monday 15 September 2008 12:51, sinbad wrote:

>> grep ^ABC test | cut -d, -f3
>>
>> --
>> Ben.
>
>
> ABC (x,y,one,a,b,c)
>
> but what if the above text is not always in a single line,It can span
> multiple lines (which usually is the case for me)
> like
>
> ABC (x,y,
> one,a,
> b,
> c)
>
> ABC (x,y,
> two,a,
> b,c)
>
> ABC (x,y,
> three,
> a,b,c)
>
> ABC (x,
> y,four,a,b,c)
>
> Even in the above case, i need to get the output as
>
> one
> two
> three
> four
>
> I am wondering if it's atleast possible with grep.

You can't with grep. Grep reads a single line at a time.
Try with this sed program:

/^$/d
/^ABC/{
:a
/)$/!{N;ba;}
}
s/[[:space:]]*//g
s/^[^,]*,[^,]*,\([^,]*\)\(,[^,]*\)\{3\}$/\1/'

assuming all the records are well formed.

On Sep 15, 3:51*am, sinbad wrote:

> ABC (x,y,one,a,b,c)
>
> but what if the above text is not always in a single line,It can span
> multiple lines (which usually is the case for me)
> like
>
> ABC (x,y,
> * * one,a,
> * * b,
> * * c)

Though ugly, you can use 'tr' to convert newlines to spaces and ')'s
to newlines.

DS

sinbad writes:

> On Sep 15, 3:25Â*pm, Ben Bacarisse wrote:
>> sinbad writes:
>>
>>
>>
>> > i think i didn't explain well,
>>
>> > .....
>> > ABC (x,y,one,a,b,c)
>> > ABC (x,y,two,a,b,c)
>> > ABC (x,y,three,a,b,c)
>> > .....
>>
>> > In the above text i need to get the output as
>>
>> > one
>> > two
>> > three
>>
>> Â* grep ^ABC test | cut -d, -f3
>>
>> --
>> Ben.

Best if you don't quote sigs.

> ABC (x,y,one,a,b,c)
>
> but what if the above text is not always in a single line,It can span
> multiple lines (which usually is the case for me)
> like
>
> ABC (x,y,
> one,a,
> b,
> c)

OK. I'll wait until you confirm that this is the most complex format
you will need. Please try to explain it in full generality. I don't
fancy thinking it though and being ask for anther "what if"!

--
Ben.