dbfilealter (1) - Linux Manuals

dbfilealter: alter the format of an Fsdb file, changing the row/column separator

NAME

dbfilealter - alter the format of an Fsdb file, changing the row/column separator

SYNOPSIS

dbfilealter [-c] [-F fs] [-R rs] [-Z compression] [column...]

DESCRIPTION

This program reformats a Fsdb file, altering the row ("-R rs") or column ("-F fs") separator. It verifies that this action does not violate the file constraints (for example, if spaces appear in data and the new format has space as a separator), and optionally corrects things.

With "-Z compression" it controls compression on the file

OPTIONS

-F or --fs or --fieldseparator S

Specify the field (column) separator as "S". See below for valid field separators.

-R or --rs or --rowseparator S

Specify the row separator as "S". See below for valid row separators.

-Z or --compression S

Specify file compression as given by file extension "S". Supported compressions are gz for gzip, bz2 for bzip2, xz for xz, or ``none'' or undef to disable compression. Default is none.

-c or --correct

Correct any inconsistency caused by the new separators, if possible.

This module also supports the standard fsdb options:

-d

Enable debugging output.

-i or --input InputSource

Read from InputSource, typically a file name, or "-" for standard input, or (if in Perl) a IO::Handle, Fsdb::IO or Fsdb::BoundedQueue objects.

-o or --output OutputDestination

Write to OutputDestination, typically a file name, or "-" for standard output, or (if in Perl) a IO::Handle, Fsdb::IO or Fsdb::BoundedQueue objects.

--autorun or --noautorun

By default, programs process automatically, but Fsdb::Filter objects in Perl do not run until you invoke the run() method. The "--(no)autorun" option controls that behavior within Perl.

--help

Show help.

--man

Show full manual.

Valid Field Separators

D default: any amount of whitespace on input, tabs on output.

s single space (exactly one space for input and output).

S double space on output; two or more spaces on input.

t single tab character (exactly one tab for input and output).

XN take N as one or more hex digits that specify a unicode character. Accept one or more of those characters on input, output exactly one of those characters.

CA take A as a one (unicode) literal character. Accept one or more of those characters on input, output exactly one of those characters.

Potentially in the future "xN" and "cA" will support single-character-on-input equivalents of "XN" and <CA>.

Valid Row Seperators

Three row separators are allowed:

D the default, one line per row

C complete rowized. Each line is a field-labeled and its value, and a blank line separates "rows". All fields present in the output.

I incompletely rowized. Like "C", but null fields are omitted from the output.

SAMPLE USAGE

Input:

    #fsdb name id test1
    a 1 80
    b 2 70
    c 3 65

Command:

    cat data.fsdb | dbfilealter -F S

Output:

    #fsdb -F S name id test1
    a  1  80
    b  2  70
    c  3  65
    #  | dbfilealter -F S

Command 2:

    cat data.fsdb | dbfilealter -R C

Output:

    #fsdb -R C name id test1
    name: a
    id: 1
    test1: 80
    
    name: b
    id: 2
    test1: 70
    
    name: c
    id: 3
    test1: 65
    
    #   | dbfilealter -R C

Correction mode input:

    #fsdb -F S name id test1
    a student  1  80
    b nice  2  70
    c all  3  65

Correction mode command:

    cat correction.fsdb | dbfilealter -c -F D

Correction mode output:

    #fsdb name id test1
    a_student   1       80
    b_nice      2       70
    c_all       3       65
    #   | dbfilealter -c -F D

AUTHOR and COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2008-2015 by John Heidemann <johnh [at] isi.edu>

This program is distributed under terms of the GNU general public license, version 2. See the file COPYING with the distribution for details.