Question

I am writing a shell script to do the following task.
I have a file like this:

abcdfgfehg   124353552455
ldnaslbbdaj    134314314344
sdsdbbdbu    134134134314
auosdbo   141413434444
ihjidiqwdnowqdn  134134141232

I want the output file to be

abcdfgfeh 124353552455
ldnaslbbd 134314314344
sdsdbbdbu 134134134314
auosdbo   141413434444
ihjidiqwd 134134141232

That is, all the names (1st word in every line) should be reduced to 9 characters and remaining characters trimmed. A space after that. and then the value of the name.

I know that the awk command prints the 1st word of evry line.

awk '{print $1}' ./input.txt

But how to trim the characters from the file so that each word is of length 9 and its value start after a space.

Answer 1

A simple printf would do –

awk '{printf ("%-10.9s%s\n", $1,$2)}' file

Test:

[jaypal:~/Temp] awk '{printf ("%-10.9s%s\n", $1,$2)}' file
abcdfgfeh 124353552455 
ldnaslbbd 134314314344
sdsdbbdbu 134134134314
auosdbo   141413434444
ihjidiqwd 134134141232

Test 2:

[jaypal:~/Temp] cat file
abcdfgfehg   1243535ABCD55
ldnaslbbdaj    134314314344
sdsdbbdbu    134134134314
auosdbo   141413434444
ihjidiqwdnowqdn  134134141232

[jaypal:~/Temp] awk '{printf ("%-10.9s%s\n", $1,$2)}' file
abcdfgfeh 1243535ABCD55
ldnaslbbd 134314314344
sdsdbbdbu 134134134314
auosdbo   141413434444
ihjidiqwd 134134141232