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August 21, 2008 02:29pm pdt
 
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Attachment Details

Script to convert multiple records into single records in data file

Zone: IBM AIX Unix
Tags: multiple, single, records, convert
This is probably fairly trivial using sed, but I am not all that familiar with sed.
I also don't have any compilers on this system, so it will need to be a ksh script.
I have a data file, lets call it data.input
It is a generated report.
It looks something like this:

=======
Last Name:                      Smith
First Name:                      John
Address:                          123 Main St.
City, State, Zip:                 Anytown, CA 90210
Phone (home):                  (732)123-4567     Work:  (732)555-1212
Start Date:               10/21/2001                End date:  12/31/2006

=======
Last Name:                       Jones


etc.

A "record" begins with a line containing multiple equal signs (variable number, greater than 1.)
I would like to compress the data file as follows:
Eliminate the record delimiter lines (any line containing multiple equal signs)
Eliminate any completely blank lines.
All records between equal sign records should be compressed into a single line in an output file.
Multiple spaces should be compressed to a single space.
Should end up like:

Last Name: Smith First Name: John Address: 123 Main St. City, State, Zip: Anytown, CA 90210
Last Name: Jones First Name: Robert Address:


Thank you for any help you can offer.
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Question Stats
Zone: OS
Question Asked By: jonkreisler
Solution Provided By: tfewster
Participating Experts: 1
Solution Grade: A
Views: 8
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Rank: Master

Accepted Solution by tfewster:

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