On 3/30/07, James Hatridge <James.Hatridge@gmx.de> wrote:
Hi all,
I have files with mailing addresses in them. There are normally 4-5 lines with the first line starting with "address: " then the person's name and 3 or 4 more lines of address. Can (how) I use grep to pull all the address out? If not grep what else?
I don't think grep can handle variable multiline results. I would attack it with awk. (or gawk). It is a pretty flexible reporting package. Ignoring syntax a control file like: START {print_lines=0; echo "File Header" > "output_file" } /address:/ {print_lines=4} {print_lines = print_lines-1 if (print_lines > 0) print $0 >> "output_file" } should be the basic code. Then invoke it with: awk -f control_file * FYI: Double check all the above, but it should be enough to point you in the right direction. Greg -- Greg Freemyer The Norcross Group Forensics for the 21st Century -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org