shell awk print in range

Question

my txt file is constructed like:

random text
random text
random text

start_here
important text
important text
important text
end_here

random text
random text

start_here
important text
important text
important text
end_here

...
start_here
...
end_here
...

i need to print everything between start_here and end_here (no matter if these lines are in or not) in a new file.

i tried with awk but the output file is empty.

awk '/start_here/,/end_here/' inputfile.txt > outputfile.txt

Where is my mistake?

It works for me. Do you have output without `> outputfile.txt` — jrjc, Feb 26 '14 at 11:08
i found a solution. i needed to change the path of the input file. — user3352472, Feb 26 '14 at 12:11

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:09

1

This works fine for me, but you can try:

awk '/start_here/{f=1} f; /end_here/{f=0}' file

or

awk '/start_here/{f=1} /end_here/{f=0;print} f' file

All gives this:

start_here
important text
important text
important text
end_here
start_here
important text
important text
important text
end_here
start_here
...
end_here

If you do not like the start/end text use this:

awk '/end_here/{f=0} f; /start_here/{f=1}' file

important text
important text
important text
important text
important text
important text
...

answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:09

Jotne

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thank you for all the ideas. i have no error appearing. its "just" the output which is missing. – user3352472 Feb 26 '14 at 11:39
Run it with out any `> output` so you see what is going on. Try also `awk '{print $0} file` just to see if `file` is read, and you get any output. – Jotne Feb 26 '14 at 12:15

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:11

0

your code should work I have tested here

you can also use perl:

perl -lne 'print if(/start_here/.../end_here/)'

Tested here

answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:11

Vijay

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:51

0

Your script is almost a working sed script:

sed -n '/start_here/,/end_here/p' inputfile.txt > outputfile.txt

answered Feb 26 '14 at 11:51

aragaer

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shell awk print in range

3 Answers3