Converting Tab to spaces in linux ussing sed

Question

I found a command that suggests is: sed 's/t\ /g' file1 > file2, but nothing is happening I appreciate your help

File1

> NL000414570133    3   317 59  50  2005autumn
> IT023990159886    2   508 64  54  2008winter
> IT019990368451    9   411 72  54  2007autumn
> IT028990115247    17  424 47  35  2007spring
> IT024000416093    2   413 53  49  2004spring
> IT017990395438    14  2010    53  42  2011spring
> IT028990024896    2   469 52  42  2005autumn
> NL000353035324    2   348 63  48  2003summer

File2

NL000414570133 3 317 59 50 2005autumn
IT023990159886 2 508 64 54 2008winter
IT019990368451 9 411 72 54 2007autumn
IT028990115247 17 424 47 35 2007spring
IT024000416093 2 413 53 49 2004spring
IT017990395438 14 2010 53 42 2011spring
IT028990024896 2 469 52 42 2005autumn

Please post an [MCVE (minimal complete verifiable example)](http://stackoverflow.com/help/mcve). Also, provide the sed and OS details — Wiktor Stribiżew, Aug 20 '20 at 17:55
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2610115/why-is-sed-not-recognizing-t-as-a-tab ```sed "s/$(echo '\t')/ /g" file1 > file2``` — 2pizza, Aug 20 '20 at 18:04

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 20 '20 at 18:36

1

Use awk instead. If you force it to rebuild the record by assigning to a field, it will collapse any sequence of whitespace to a single space.

awk '{$1 = $1; print}' file1 > file2

answered Aug 20 '20 at 18:36

Barmar

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Ed Morton · Answer 2 · 2020-08-21T04:22:28.090

0

TRanslating one char to another is the job that tr exists to do:

$ tr '\t' ' ' < file
NL000414570133 3 317 59 50 2005autumn
IT023990159886 2 508 64 54 2008winter
IT019990368451 9 411 72 54 2007autumn
IT028990115247 17 424 47 35 2007spring
IT024000416093 2 413 53 49 2004spring
IT017990395438 14 2010 53 42 2011spring
IT028990024896 2 469 52 42 2005autumn
NL000353035324 2 348 63 48 2003summer

edited Aug 21 '20 at 04:22

answered Aug 21 '20 at 04:17

Ed Morton

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Converting Tab to spaces in linux ussing sed

2 Answers2