I want to replace few columns in one file with few columns in other files File1: 1,"asd","sfdsfs",2,456,678 2,"qwe","zxcvbn",2,234,234 File2: 2,3 "cbc","buunny" "xyz","suunny" File1 is fixed width n is comma seperated. First row of File2 signifies column numbers to be replaced in File1 Next rows have actual data to be replaced in those colunms in File1. Can some one suggest me some solution to this problem using unix scripting?

This looks too much like homework, but I'll help you get started. The below script parses the comma delimited file2. It reads the first line retrieving the numbers of the two columns to change. The loop continues reading each row so you can process file1. You now have the column information required to process file1. To process file1, either write another while loop parsing file1 similar to way file2 is processed. Or you can embed an awk script within the while loop to process file1. #!/bin/ksh fr=0 while IFS="," read arg1 arg2 do if [[ fr -eq 0 ]] then fcol="$arg1" scol="$arg2" fr=1 continue fi #process file1 done < file2

Thanks Buddy...I ll try it out.

Following the ablove help i had build this script: #!/bin/ksh fc=1 fr=0 i=1 while IFS="," read arg1 arg2 do if [[ fr -eq 0 ]] then fcol="$arg1" scol="$arg2" fr=1 continue fi; echo $arg2 #process file1 i=1 while IFS="," read abc[1] abc[2] abc[3] abc[4] abc[5] abc[6] do #echo i= $i if [[ $fc -eq $i ]] then echo ${abc[$fcol]} # set -A abc set -A abc[$fcol]=$arg[1] set -A abc[$scol]=$arg[2] ((i = ${i} + 1)) else ((i = ${i} + 1)) fi done < file1.txt echo $arg1 ((fc = ${fc} + 1)) #echo fc= $fc done < file3.txt cat < file1.txt But I am facing an issue here. set -A abc[$fcol]=$arg[1] set -A abc[$scol]=$arg[2] here i m not able to set the values in required array. the value remains same. can anyone help me in this??

First, I have no idea what you are trying to do with the array. I can tell you below: set -A abc[$fcol]=$arg[1] $arg[1] is NOT an array element and you are treating it like it is. Second, below is my solution not using an array. I'm assuming the output should be this: 1,"cbc","buunny",2,456,678 2,"xyz","suunny",2,234,234 What's tricky about my solution is knowing what this means: eval col${fcol}='$arg1' That means to evaluate the variable col${fcol} and set it to the contents of arg1. In the test data, it is either col2 or col3. The answer is file1.org below. #!/bin/ksh cp file1 file1.org fr=0 row=0 while IFS="," read arg1 arg2 do if [[ $fr -eq 0 ]] then fcol="$arg1" scol="$arg2" fr=1 continue fi #process file1 ((row+=1)) # process file1 once for every row in file2 myrow=0 while IFS="," read col1 col2 col3 col4 col5 col6 do ((myrow+=1)) if [[ $row -eq $myrow ]] then eval col${fcol}='$arg1' eval col${scol}='$arg2' fi echo "${col1},${col2},${col3},${col4},${col5},${col6}" >> file1.int done < file1.org mv file1.int file1.org done < file2

Hey Nails thats a great reply. U solved my problem. Now i need to analyze ur script n learn the scripting logic, Thanks a load ,.,, :)

#!/bin/ksh NO_PARAM=$1 cp file1.txt file1.org fr=0 row=0 while read line do TMP_COUNT=0 TMP_COUNT=` expr $TMP_COUNT + 0 ` while [ $TMP_COUNT -lt $NO_PARAM ] do TMP_COUNT=`expr $TMP_COUNT + 1` echo $line | awk " BEGIN { FS = \",\" } { print \$$TMP_COUNT } " > tmp_sample.txt TEMP1=`cat tmp_sample.txt` arg[$TMP_COUNT]=$TEMP1 done if [[ $fr -eq 0 ]] then i=0 while [ $i -lt $NO_PARAM ] do ((i+=1)) param[$i]="$arg[$i]" done fr=1 continue fi #process file1 ((row+=1)) # process file1 once for every row in file2 myrow=0 while IFS="," read col1 col2 col3 col4 col5 col6 do ((myrow+=1)) if [[ $row -eq $myrow ]] then x=0 while [ $x -lt $NO_PARAM ] do ((x+=1)) eval col${param${x}}='$arg[$i]' done fi echo "${col1},${col2},${col3},${col4},${col5},${col6}" >> file1.int done < file1.org mv file1.int file1.org done < file2.txt here it givin error in this line: col${param${x}}="\$arg[\$i]": 0403-011 The specified substitution is not valid for this command. can u suggest me how to do this.. i have made script parameterized to accept any number of columns for replacing