I have a simple script to output the content of the file students.txt as a basic table to the print file, which is then displayed.
#!/bin/bash
cat students.txt | column -t -s',' | sort -u -k3 > print.txt
cat print.txt
The output looks like as follows:
Consoling ST DWC 0900
Scribing RA DWC 1000
Gloater AU DWC 1100
Crimp DI DWC 1200
and so on. However I also want to be able to add headings for each column and have them align perfectly, as well as not being sorted. I have tried to use printf and echo but when piped into the command they do not display and I cannot align the columns correctly by printing the heading names outside of the pipe. The desired output I am looking for would look like this:
Family Name Initials Interviewer Initials Interview Time
Consoling ST DWC 0900
Scribing RA DWC 1000
Gloater AU DWC 1100
Crimp DI DWC 1200
How could I achieve this?
There is a oneliner:
cat <(echo "Family Name,Initials,Interviewer Initials,Interview Time") <(sort -u -k3 -t ',' students.txt) | column -s ',' -t > print.txt
This makes use of Process Substitution. The command inside <() is run and it's output appears as a filename. cat concatenates the two "files", that contain the outputs of echo (for the headers) and sort (to sort your students.txt).
sort is run with option -t ',' to specifiy "," as the delimiter.column is run with option -s ',' to specify "," as the delimiter.
EDIT (thanks to @tripleee for pointing it out):
The oneliner can be modified, such that Process Substitution and cat isn't necessary:
{ echo "Family Name,Initials,Interviewer Initials,Interview Time"; sort -u -k3 -t ',' students.txt; } | column -s ',' -t > print.txt
echo and sort are grouped by {} and are executed in the current shell context. The redirection (pipe to column) is applied to the entire group. For reference: Grouping Commands.
May be you can try a simple echo
cat students.txt | column -t -s',' | sort -u -k3 > print.txt
echo 'Family Name Initials Interviewer Initials Interview Time' && cat print.txt
If you need them to be aligned based on your headings then you can use column
column -t <<< "Family_Name Initials Interviewer_Initials Interview_Time
Consoling ST DWC 0900
Scribing RA DWC 1000
Gloater AU DWC 1100
Crimp DI DWC 1200
"
Family_Name Initials Interviewer_Initials Interview_Time
Consoling ST DWC 0900
Scribing RA DWC 1000
Gloater AU DWC 1100
Crimp DI DWC 1200
Note: spaces in column header is not allowed, else it would be treated as separate columns
You put the header Family Name, Initials, Interviewer Initials, Interview Time before the contents of students.txt before sending it to the column comand, and I think that should do the trick.
Perhaps something like:
TEMP=$(mktemp)
TEMP2=$(mktemp)
cat students.txt | sort -u -k3 > $TEMP
echo Family Name, Initials, Interviewer Initials, Interview Time > $TEMP2
cat $TEMP >> $TEMP2
cat $TEMP2 | column -t -s',' > print.txt
rm -f $TEMP $TEMP2
cat print.txt
