Extract `m`th (first) column value for line with specific `n`th (second) column value from file

Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP

up vote
6
down vote

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I need to Write an awk command that will return the identification number from the following table for only the lines where the title is Turtle. This table is stored in turtle.txt

Id Num. Title CatchDate
433417 RedTurtle 2001-06-29
493303 BlueTurtle 1998-09-20
259497 Turtle 1985-05-08
229505 RedTurtle 1994-07-13
473076 OrangeTurtle 2002-03-08
221907 Blueturtle 1999-07-02
457032 Turtle 1993-04-09
490359 RedTurtle 1996-11-12
494595 SnappingTurtle 1985-05-20
402421 BlueTurtle 1999-08-16

text-processing awk sed

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edited 11 mins ago

Isaac

7,85711137

asked 14 hours ago

Kamat

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• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I'm amazed that this simple question could attract 6 answers so far.
  – simlev
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @simlev, the Hot Network Questions algorithm is a mystery; it's contributing to the views & votes here
  – Jeff Schaller
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Hi Kamat. I generalized the title of your question. The answer would be the same if this was about, say, a part number / description / price table, so the fact that it's about animals in this case seems inconsequential to answering the question.
  – Michael Kjörling
  9 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  (1) I’m amazed that a trivial question like this can accumulate five edits (by five different people), six upvotes, no downvotes, and no close votes (after approximately 7 hours). (2) @MichaelKjörling: Wow, that is the general version of the title?!  When I saw the title “Extract first column value for line with specific second column value from three-columns file with awk”, my first thought was that it should be renamed to “Extract a field from a line based on a value in another field”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Possible duplicate of filter based on a field value in awk
  – G-Man
  36 secs ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
6
down vote

favorite

I need to Write an awk command that will return the identification number from the following table for only the lines where the title is Turtle. This table is stored in turtle.txt

Id Num. Title CatchDate
433417 RedTurtle 2001-06-29
493303 BlueTurtle 1998-09-20
259497 Turtle 1985-05-08
229505 RedTurtle 1994-07-13
473076 OrangeTurtle 2002-03-08
221907 Blueturtle 1999-07-02
457032 Turtle 1993-04-09
490359 RedTurtle 1996-11-12
494595 SnappingTurtle 1985-05-20
402421 BlueTurtle 1999-08-16

text-processing awk sed

share|improve this question

edited 11 mins ago

Isaac

7,85711137

asked 14 hours ago

Kamat

383

New contributor

Kamat is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I'm amazed that this simple question could attract 6 answers so far.
  – simlev
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @simlev, the Hot Network Questions algorithm is a mystery; it's contributing to the views & votes here
  – Jeff Schaller
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Hi Kamat. I generalized the title of your question. The answer would be the same if this was about, say, a part number / description / price table, so the fact that it's about animals in this case seems inconsequential to answering the question.
  – Michael Kjörling
  9 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  (1) I’m amazed that a trivial question like this can accumulate five edits (by five different people), six upvotes, no downvotes, and no close votes (after approximately 7 hours). (2) @MichaelKjörling: Wow, that is the general version of the title?!  When I saw the title “Extract first column value for line with specific second column value from three-columns file with awk”, my first thought was that it should be renamed to “Extract a field from a line based on a value in another field”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Possible duplicate of filter based on a field value in awk
  – G-Man
  36 secs ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
6
down vote

favorite

up vote
6
down vote

favorite

I need to Write an awk command that will return the identification number from the following table for only the lines where the title is Turtle. This table is stored in turtle.txt

Id Num. Title CatchDate
433417 RedTurtle 2001-06-29
493303 BlueTurtle 1998-09-20
259497 Turtle 1985-05-08
229505 RedTurtle 1994-07-13
473076 OrangeTurtle 2002-03-08
221907 Blueturtle 1999-07-02
457032 Turtle 1993-04-09
490359 RedTurtle 1996-11-12
494595 SnappingTurtle 1985-05-20
402421 BlueTurtle 1999-08-16

text-processing awk sed

share|improve this question

edited 11 mins ago

Isaac

7,85711137

asked 14 hours ago

Kamat

383

New contributor

Kamat is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

I need to Write an awk command that will return the identification number from the following table for only the lines where the title is Turtle. This table is stored in turtle.txt

Id Num. Title CatchDate
433417 RedTurtle 2001-06-29
493303 BlueTurtle 1998-09-20
259497 Turtle 1985-05-08
229505 RedTurtle 1994-07-13
473076 OrangeTurtle 2002-03-08
221907 Blueturtle 1999-07-02
457032 Turtle 1993-04-09
490359 RedTurtle 1996-11-12
494595 SnappingTurtle 1985-05-20
402421 BlueTurtle 1999-08-16

text-processing awk sed

text-processing awk sed

share|improve this question

edited 11 mins ago

Isaac

7,85711137

asked 14 hours ago

Kamat

383

New contributor

Kamat is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 11 mins ago

Isaac

7,85711137

asked 14 hours ago

Kamat

383

New contributor

Kamat is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

share|improve this question

edited 11 mins ago

Isaac

7,85711137

edited 11 mins ago

Isaac

7,85711137

edited 11 mins ago

Isaac

7,85711137

7,85711137

asked 14 hours ago

Kamat

383

New contributor

Kamat is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 14 hours ago

Kamat

383

asked 14 hours ago

Kamat

383

383

New contributor

Kamat is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

New contributor

Kamat is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

Kamat is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I'm amazed that this simple question could attract 6 answers so far.
  – simlev
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @simlev, the Hot Network Questions algorithm is a mystery; it's contributing to the views & votes here
  – Jeff Schaller
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Hi Kamat. I generalized the title of your question. The answer would be the same if this was about, say, a part number / description / price table, so the fact that it's about animals in this case seems inconsequential to answering the question.
  – Michael Kjörling
  9 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  (1) I’m amazed that a trivial question like this can accumulate five edits (by five different people), six upvotes, no downvotes, and no close votes (after approximately 7 hours). (2) @MichaelKjörling: Wow, that is the general version of the title?!  When I saw the title “Extract first column value for line with specific second column value from three-columns file with awk”, my first thought was that it should be renamed to “Extract a field from a line based on a value in another field”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Possible duplicate of filter based on a field value in awk
  – G-Man
  36 secs ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  I'm amazed that this simple question could attract 6 answers so far.
  – simlev
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @simlev, the Hot Network Questions algorithm is a mystery; it's contributing to the views & votes here
  – Jeff Schaller
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Hi Kamat. I generalized the title of your question. The answer would be the same if this was about, say, a part number / description / price table, so the fact that it's about animals in this case seems inconsequential to answering the question.
  – Michael Kjörling
  9 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  (1) I’m amazed that a trivial question like this can accumulate five edits (by five different people), six upvotes, no downvotes, and no close votes (after approximately 7 hours). (2) @MichaelKjörling: Wow, that is the general version of the title?!  When I saw the title “Extract first column value for line with specific second column value from three-columns file with awk”, my first thought was that it should be renamed to “Extract a field from a line based on a value in another field”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Possible duplicate of filter based on a field value in awk
  – G-Man
  36 secs ago
  

  
  
  
  

1

1

I'm amazed that this simple question could attract 6 answers so far.
– simlev
11 hours ago

I'm amazed that this simple question could attract 6 answers so far.
– simlev
11 hours ago

@simlev, the Hot Network Questions algorithm is a mystery; it's contributing to the views & votes here
– Jeff Schaller
11 hours ago

@simlev, the Hot Network Questions algorithm is a mystery; it's contributing to the views & votes here
– Jeff Schaller
11 hours ago

Hi Kamat. I generalized the title of your question. The answer would be the same if this was about, say, a part number / description / price table, so the fact that it's about animals in this case seems inconsequential to answering the question.
– Michael Kjörling
9 hours ago

Hi Kamat. I generalized the title of your question. The answer would be the same if this was about, say, a part number / description / price table, so the fact that it's about animals in this case seems inconsequential to answering the question.
– Michael Kjörling
9 hours ago

(1) I’m amazed that a trivial question like this can accumulate five edits (by five different people), six upvotes, no downvotes, and no close votes (after approximately 7 hours). (2) @MichaelKjörling: Wow, that is the general version of the title?!  When I saw the title “Extract first column value for line with specific second column value from three-columns file with awk”, my first thought was that it should be renamed to “Extract a field from a line based on a value in another field”.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

(1) I’m amazed that a trivial question like this can accumulate five edits (by five different people), six upvotes, no downvotes, and no close votes (after approximately 7 hours). (2) @MichaelKjörling: Wow, that is the general version of the title?!  When I saw the title “Extract first column value for line with specific second column value from three-columns file with awk”, my first thought was that it should be renamed to “Extract a field from a line based on a value in another field”.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

Possible duplicate of filter based on a field value in awk
– G-Man
36 secs ago

Possible duplicate of filter based on a field value in awk
– G-Man
36 secs ago

add a comment | 

6 Answers
6

active

oldest

votes

up vote
6
down vote

With awk:

$ awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' turtle.txt
259497
457032

• 
  $2 is the field to select.


• 
  Turtle is the text to match.


• 
  print $1 is to print the first field.


• 
  turtle.txt is the name of the source file.

With sed:

$ <infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/([^n]*).*/1/;p};d'

Explained:

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E Use sed with POSIX ERE (Extended Regular Expresions)


• 
  's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Replace all (runs +) of tab-space with a new line.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtlen/ If field n (use n-1 here) match Turtle (exactly).


• 
  ([^n]*).*/1/ Extract field 1 (first line)


• 
  p};d' Print what was selected and delete everything in any case.

General solution for any pair of field(s) n and m:

<infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/s/([^n]+n)0([^n]*).*/2/;p;d'

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E ' For sed with ERE regexes.


• 
  s/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Break all input into lines at (runs of) tabs or spaces.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtle/ If the pattern space match the nth field (use n-1 (1) here).


• 
  Start a sequence of commands.


• 
  s/ Start a replace (a s/// command).


• 
  ([^n]+n)0 Match m-1 (0) lines (for field m).


• 
  ([^n]*) Capture the field (the line) to keep in backreference 2.


• 
  .* And match everything else (in the pattern space (the original line)).


• 
  /2/ Replace all of above (The pattern space) with what was captured in 2.


• 
  ;p; Print it. And close command sequence.


• 
  d In any case, delete the pattern space, start again.


• 
  ' End sed command.

share|improve this answer

edited 16 mins ago

answered 14 hours ago

Isaac

7,85711137

add a comment | 

up vote
5
down vote

You can use:

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' file
259497
457032

share|improve this answer

edited 14 hours ago

answered 14 hours ago

Goro

7,56753371

add a comment | 

up vote
4
down vote

Using sed:

sed -n '/sTurtles/s/^([0-9]+)s.*/1/p' file

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

oliv

1,131210

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  Of course this would match “Turtle” appearing in any column except for the first or the last.  (Of course, for a three-column file, that does narrow it down to the second column — but it will fail on a line where the third column is missing.)   And, of course, it depends on the ID number being purely numeric.  Some people use things like “123.01”, “456A”, “78(9)” and “987-65-4321” as ID “numbers”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
4
down vote

Golfing it:

$ awk '$2=="Turtle"&&$0=$1' <file
259497
457032

Or, expanded in stages until we reach Isaac's and Goro's answers

awk '$2 == "Turtle" && $0 = $1' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" $0 = $1; print ' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1 ' <file

The three are not exactly equivalent as my golfed code would not print the number if it was zero (the result of $0=$1 is used as a conditional).

---

Here's a proper sed solution to make up for the golfing above:

$ sed -n '/<Turtle>/s/[[:blank:]].*//p' <file
259497
457032

It finds all lines containing the word Turtle and then remowes the first space or tab character and everything after it on those lines before printing them (printing of other lines is inhibited by -n).

The < and > matches word start and end boundaries so that <Turtle> matches only the string Turtle and not e.g. RedTurtle.

share|improve this answer

edited 13 hours ago

answered 13 hours ago

Kusalananda

109k14210334

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The first one won't work properly when the id is zero
  – user000001
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @user000001 This was already made clear in the answer.
  – Kusalananda
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But it adds nothing useful IMO. That's more of an example of things not to do (use assignments as conditions in awk).
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Note that <Turtle> is not portable and would match on Red-Turtle. You would need something like sed -n 's/^[[:blank:]]*([^[:blank:]]1,)[[:blank:]]1,Turtle([[:blank:]].*)0,1$/1/p' for a real equivalent.
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @Kusalananda: Also, of course, your sed solution would match “Turtle” appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

up vote
3
down vote

non-awk alternative:

grep -w "Turtle" turtle.txt | cut -d " " -f 1

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

RobotJohnny

740216

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  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But this would match “Turtle” (or even something like ‘‘Turtle#1998’’ or ‘‘Mock-Turtle’’) appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
1
down vote

You may employ grep in this:

 grep -oP '^d+(?=h+Turtleh)'

share|improve this answer

answered 11 hours ago

Rakesh Sharma

217113

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  We expect answers as complex/cryptic as this  to include an explanation.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

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6 Answers
6

active

oldest

votes

6 Answers
6

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

active

oldest

votes

up vote
6
down vote

With awk:

$ awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' turtle.txt
259497
457032

• 
  $2 is the field to select.


• 
  Turtle is the text to match.


• 
  print $1 is to print the first field.


• 
  turtle.txt is the name of the source file.

With sed:

$ <infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/([^n]*).*/1/;p};d'

Explained:

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E Use sed with POSIX ERE (Extended Regular Expresions)


• 
  's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Replace all (runs +) of tab-space with a new line.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtlen/ If field n (use n-1 here) match Turtle (exactly).


• 
  ([^n]*).*/1/ Extract field 1 (first line)


• 
  p};d' Print what was selected and delete everything in any case.

General solution for any pair of field(s) n and m:

<infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/s/([^n]+n)0([^n]*).*/2/;p;d'

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E ' For sed with ERE regexes.


• 
  s/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Break all input into lines at (runs of) tabs or spaces.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtle/ If the pattern space match the nth field (use n-1 (1) here).


• 
  Start a sequence of commands.


• 
  s/ Start a replace (a s/// command).


• 
  ([^n]+n)0 Match m-1 (0) lines (for field m).


• 
  ([^n]*) Capture the field (the line) to keep in backreference 2.


• 
  .* And match everything else (in the pattern space (the original line)).


• 
  /2/ Replace all of above (The pattern space) with what was captured in 2.


• 
  ;p; Print it. And close command sequence.


• 
  d In any case, delete the pattern space, start again.


• 
  ' End sed command.

share|improve this answer

edited 16 mins ago

answered 14 hours ago

Isaac

7,85711137

add a comment | 

up vote
6
down vote

With awk:

$ awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' turtle.txt
259497
457032

• 
  $2 is the field to select.


• 
  Turtle is the text to match.


• 
  print $1 is to print the first field.


• 
  turtle.txt is the name of the source file.

With sed:

$ <infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/([^n]*).*/1/;p};d'

Explained:

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E Use sed with POSIX ERE (Extended Regular Expresions)


• 
  's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Replace all (runs +) of tab-space with a new line.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtlen/ If field n (use n-1 here) match Turtle (exactly).


• 
  ([^n]*).*/1/ Extract field 1 (first line)


• 
  p};d' Print what was selected and delete everything in any case.

General solution for any pair of field(s) n and m:

<infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/s/([^n]+n)0([^n]*).*/2/;p;d'

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E ' For sed with ERE regexes.


• 
  s/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Break all input into lines at (runs of) tabs or spaces.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtle/ If the pattern space match the nth field (use n-1 (1) here).


• 
  Start a sequence of commands.


• 
  s/ Start a replace (a s/// command).


• 
  ([^n]+n)0 Match m-1 (0) lines (for field m).


• 
  ([^n]*) Capture the field (the line) to keep in backreference 2.


• 
  .* And match everything else (in the pattern space (the original line)).


• 
  /2/ Replace all of above (The pattern space) with what was captured in 2.


• 
  ;p; Print it. And close command sequence.


• 
  d In any case, delete the pattern space, start again.


• 
  ' End sed command.

share|improve this answer

edited 16 mins ago

answered 14 hours ago

Isaac

7,85711137

add a comment | 

up vote
6
down vote

up vote
6
down vote

With awk:

$ awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' turtle.txt
259497
457032

• 
  $2 is the field to select.


• 
  Turtle is the text to match.


• 
  print $1 is to print the first field.


• 
  turtle.txt is the name of the source file.

With sed:

$ <infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/([^n]*).*/1/;p};d'

Explained:

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E Use sed with POSIX ERE (Extended Regular Expresions)


• 
  's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Replace all (runs +) of tab-space with a new line.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtlen/ If field n (use n-1 here) match Turtle (exactly).


• 
  ([^n]*).*/1/ Extract field 1 (first line)


• 
  p};d' Print what was selected and delete everything in any case.

General solution for any pair of field(s) n and m:

<infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/s/([^n]+n)0([^n]*).*/2/;p;d'

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E ' For sed with ERE regexes.


• 
  s/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Break all input into lines at (runs of) tabs or spaces.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtle/ If the pattern space match the nth field (use n-1 (1) here).


• 
  Start a sequence of commands.


• 
  s/ Start a replace (a s/// command).


• 
  ([^n]+n)0 Match m-1 (0) lines (for field m).


• 
  ([^n]*) Capture the field (the line) to keep in backreference 2.


• 
  .* And match everything else (in the pattern space (the original line)).


• 
  /2/ Replace all of above (The pattern space) with what was captured in 2.


• 
  ;p; Print it. And close command sequence.


• 
  d In any case, delete the pattern space, start again.


• 
  ' End sed command.

share|improve this answer

edited 16 mins ago

answered 14 hours ago

Isaac

7,85711137

With awk:

$ awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' turtle.txt
259497
457032

• 
  $2 is the field to select.


• 
  Turtle is the text to match.


• 
  print $1 is to print the first field.


• 
  turtle.txt is the name of the source file.

With sed:

$ <infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/([^n]*).*/1/;p};d'

Explained:

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E Use sed with POSIX ERE (Extended Regular Expresions)


• 
  's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Replace all (runs +) of tab-space with a new line.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtlen/ If field n (use n-1 here) match Turtle (exactly).


• 
  ([^n]*).*/1/ Extract field 1 (first line)


• 
  p};d' Print what was selected and delete everything in any case.

General solution for any pair of field(s) n and m:

<infile sed -E 's/[[:blank:]]+/n/g;/([^n]+n)1Turtle/s/([^n]+n)0([^n]*).*/2/;p;d'

• 
  <infile Source file


• 
  sed -E ' For sed with ERE regexes.


• 
  s/[[:blank:]]+/n/g Break all input into lines at (runs of) tabs or spaces.


• 
  /([^n]+n)1Turtle/ If the pattern space match the nth field (use n-1 (1) here).


• 
  Start a sequence of commands.


• 
  s/ Start a replace (a s/// command).


• 
  ([^n]+n)0 Match m-1 (0) lines (for field m).


• 
  ([^n]*) Capture the field (the line) to keep in backreference 2.


• 
  .* And match everything else (in the pattern space (the original line)).


• 
  /2/ Replace all of above (The pattern space) with what was captured in 2.


• 
  ;p; Print it. And close command sequence.


• 
  d In any case, delete the pattern space, start again.


• 
  ' End sed command.

share|improve this answer

edited 16 mins ago

answered 14 hours ago

Isaac

7,85711137

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

edited 16 mins ago

edited 16 mins ago

edited 16 mins ago

answered 14 hours ago

Isaac

7,85711137

answered 14 hours ago

Isaac

7,85711137

answered 14 hours ago

Isaac

7,85711137

7,85711137

add a comment | 

add a comment | 

up vote
5
down vote

You can use:

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' file
259497
457032

share|improve this answer

edited 14 hours ago

answered 14 hours ago

Goro

7,56753371

add a comment | 

up vote
5
down vote

You can use:

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' file
259497
457032

share|improve this answer

edited 14 hours ago

answered 14 hours ago

Goro

7,56753371

add a comment | 

up vote
5
down vote

up vote
5
down vote

You can use:

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' file
259497
457032

share|improve this answer

edited 14 hours ago

answered 14 hours ago

Goro

7,56753371

You can use:

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1' file
259497
457032

share|improve this answer

edited 14 hours ago

answered 14 hours ago

Goro

7,56753371

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

edited 14 hours ago

edited 14 hours ago

edited 14 hours ago

answered 14 hours ago

Goro

7,56753371

answered 14 hours ago

Goro

7,56753371

answered 14 hours ago

Goro

7,56753371

7,56753371

add a comment | 

add a comment | 

up vote
4
down vote

Using sed:

sed -n '/sTurtles/s/^([0-9]+)s.*/1/p' file

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

oliv

1,131210

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Of course this would match “Turtle” appearing in any column except for the first or the last.  (Of course, for a three-column file, that does narrow it down to the second column — but it will fail on a line where the third column is missing.)   And, of course, it depends on the ID number being purely numeric.  Some people use things like “123.01”, “456A”, “78(9)” and “987-65-4321” as ID “numbers”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
4
down vote

Using sed:

sed -n '/sTurtles/s/^([0-9]+)s.*/1/p' file

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

oliv

1,131210

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Of course this would match “Turtle” appearing in any column except for the first or the last.  (Of course, for a three-column file, that does narrow it down to the second column — but it will fail on a line where the third column is missing.)   And, of course, it depends on the ID number being purely numeric.  Some people use things like “123.01”, “456A”, “78(9)” and “987-65-4321” as ID “numbers”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
4
down vote

up vote
4
down vote

Using sed:

sed -n '/sTurtles/s/^([0-9]+)s.*/1/p' file

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

oliv

1,131210

Using sed:

sed -n '/sTurtles/s/^([0-9]+)s.*/1/p' file

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

oliv

1,131210

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

oliv

1,131210

answered 14 hours ago

oliv

1,131210

answered 14 hours ago

oliv

1,131210

1,131210

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Of course this would match “Turtle” appearing in any column except for the first or the last.  (Of course, for a three-column file, that does narrow it down to the second column — but it will fail on a line where the third column is missing.)   And, of course, it depends on the ID number being purely numeric.  Some people use things like “123.01”, “456A”, “78(9)” and “987-65-4321” as ID “numbers”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Of course this would match “Turtle” appearing in any column except for the first or the last.  (Of course, for a three-column file, that does narrow it down to the second column — but it will fail on a line where the third column is missing.)   And, of course, it depends on the ID number being purely numeric.  Some people use things like “123.01”, “456A”, “78(9)” and “987-65-4321” as ID “numbers”.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

Of course this would match “Turtle” appearing in any column except for the first or the last.  (Of course, for a three-column file, that does narrow it down to the second column — but it will fail on a line where the third column is missing.)   And, of course, it depends on the ID number being purely numeric.  Some people use things like “123.01”, “456A”, “78(9)” and “987-65-4321” as ID “numbers”.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

Of course this would match “Turtle” appearing in any column except for the first or the last.  (Of course, for a three-column file, that does narrow it down to the second column — but it will fail on a line where the third column is missing.)   And, of course, it depends on the ID number being purely numeric.  Some people use things like “123.01”, “456A”, “78(9)” and “987-65-4321” as ID “numbers”.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

add a comment | 

up vote
4
down vote

Golfing it:

$ awk '$2=="Turtle"&&$0=$1' <file
259497
457032

Or, expanded in stages until we reach Isaac's and Goro's answers

awk '$2 == "Turtle" && $0 = $1' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" $0 = $1; print ' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1 ' <file

The three are not exactly equivalent as my golfed code would not print the number if it was zero (the result of $0=$1 is used as a conditional).

---

Here's a proper sed solution to make up for the golfing above:

$ sed -n '/<Turtle>/s/[[:blank:]].*//p' <file
259497
457032

It finds all lines containing the word Turtle and then remowes the first space or tab character and everything after it on those lines before printing them (printing of other lines is inhibited by -n).

The < and > matches word start and end boundaries so that <Turtle> matches only the string Turtle and not e.g. RedTurtle.

share|improve this answer

edited 13 hours ago

answered 13 hours ago

Kusalananda

109k14210334

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The first one won't work properly when the id is zero
  – user000001
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @user000001 This was already made clear in the answer.
  – Kusalananda
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But it adds nothing useful IMO. That's more of an example of things not to do (use assignments as conditions in awk).
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Note that <Turtle> is not portable and would match on Red-Turtle. You would need something like sed -n 's/^[[:blank:]]*([^[:blank:]]1,)[[:blank:]]1,Turtle([[:blank:]].*)0,1$/1/p' for a real equivalent.
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @Kusalananda: Also, of course, your sed solution would match “Turtle” appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

up vote
4
down vote

Golfing it:

$ awk '$2=="Turtle"&&$0=$1' <file
259497
457032

Or, expanded in stages until we reach Isaac's and Goro's answers

awk '$2 == "Turtle" && $0 = $1' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" $0 = $1; print ' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1 ' <file

The three are not exactly equivalent as my golfed code would not print the number if it was zero (the result of $0=$1 is used as a conditional).

---

Here's a proper sed solution to make up for the golfing above:

$ sed -n '/<Turtle>/s/[[:blank:]].*//p' <file
259497
457032

It finds all lines containing the word Turtle and then remowes the first space or tab character and everything after it on those lines before printing them (printing of other lines is inhibited by -n).

The < and > matches word start and end boundaries so that <Turtle> matches only the string Turtle and not e.g. RedTurtle.

share|improve this answer

edited 13 hours ago

answered 13 hours ago

Kusalananda

109k14210334

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The first one won't work properly when the id is zero
  – user000001
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @user000001 This was already made clear in the answer.
  – Kusalananda
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But it adds nothing useful IMO. That's more of an example of things not to do (use assignments as conditions in awk).
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Note that <Turtle> is not portable and would match on Red-Turtle. You would need something like sed -n 's/^[[:blank:]]*([^[:blank:]]1,)[[:blank:]]1,Turtle([[:blank:]].*)0,1$/1/p' for a real equivalent.
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @Kusalananda: Also, of course, your sed solution would match “Turtle” appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

up vote
4
down vote

up vote
4
down vote

Golfing it:

$ awk '$2=="Turtle"&&$0=$1' <file
259497
457032

Or, expanded in stages until we reach Isaac's and Goro's answers

awk '$2 == "Turtle" && $0 = $1' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" $0 = $1; print ' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1 ' <file

The three are not exactly equivalent as my golfed code would not print the number if it was zero (the result of $0=$1 is used as a conditional).

---

Here's a proper sed solution to make up for the golfing above:

$ sed -n '/<Turtle>/s/[[:blank:]].*//p' <file
259497
457032

It finds all lines containing the word Turtle and then remowes the first space or tab character and everything after it on those lines before printing them (printing of other lines is inhibited by -n).

The < and > matches word start and end boundaries so that <Turtle> matches only the string Turtle and not e.g. RedTurtle.

share|improve this answer

edited 13 hours ago

answered 13 hours ago

Kusalananda

109k14210334

Golfing it:

$ awk '$2=="Turtle"&&$0=$1' <file
259497
457032

Or, expanded in stages until we reach Isaac's and Goro's answers

awk '$2 == "Turtle" && $0 = $1' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" $0 = $1; print ' <file

awk '$2 == "Turtle" print $1 ' <file

The three are not exactly equivalent as my golfed code would not print the number if it was zero (the result of $0=$1 is used as a conditional).

---

Here's a proper sed solution to make up for the golfing above:

$ sed -n '/<Turtle>/s/[[:blank:]].*//p' <file
259497
457032

It finds all lines containing the word Turtle and then remowes the first space or tab character and everything after it on those lines before printing them (printing of other lines is inhibited by -n).

The < and > matches word start and end boundaries so that <Turtle> matches only the string Turtle and not e.g. RedTurtle.

share|improve this answer

edited 13 hours ago

answered 13 hours ago

Kusalananda

109k14210334

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

edited 13 hours ago

edited 13 hours ago

edited 13 hours ago

answered 13 hours ago

Kusalananda

109k14210334

answered 13 hours ago

Kusalananda

109k14210334

answered 13 hours ago

Kusalananda

109k14210334

109k14210334

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The first one won't work properly when the id is zero
  – user000001
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @user000001 This was already made clear in the answer.
  – Kusalananda
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But it adds nothing useful IMO. That's more of an example of things not to do (use assignments as conditions in awk).
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Note that <Turtle> is not portable and would match on Red-Turtle. You would need something like sed -n 's/^[[:blank:]]*([^[:blank:]]1,)[[:blank:]]1,Turtle([[:blank:]].*)0,1$/1/p' for a real equivalent.
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @Kusalananda: Also, of course, your sed solution would match “Turtle” appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

 | 
show 1 more comment

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  The first one won't work properly when the id is zero
  – user000001
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @user000001 This was already made clear in the answer.
  – Kusalananda
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  2
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But it adds nothing useful IMO. That's more of an example of things not to do (use assignments as conditions in awk).
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  Note that <Turtle> is not portable and would match on Red-Turtle. You would need something like sed -n 's/^[[:blank:]]*([^[:blank:]]1,)[[:blank:]]1,Turtle([[:blank:]].*)0,1$/1/p' for a real equivalent.
  – Stéphane Chazelas
  11 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  @Kusalananda: Also, of course, your sed solution would match “Turtle” appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

The first one won't work properly when the id is zero
– user000001
11 hours ago

The first one won't work properly when the id is zero
– user000001
11 hours ago

1

1

@user000001 This was already made clear in the answer.
– Kusalananda
11 hours ago

@user000001 This was already made clear in the answer.
– Kusalananda
11 hours ago

2

2

But it adds nothing useful IMO. That's more of an example of things not to do (use assignments as conditions in awk).
– Stéphane Chazelas
11 hours ago

But it adds nothing useful IMO. That's more of an example of things not to do (use assignments as conditions in awk).
– Stéphane Chazelas
11 hours ago

Note that <Turtle> is not portable and would match on Red-Turtle. You would need something like sed -n 's/^[[:blank:]]*([^[:blank:]]1,)[[:blank:]]1,Turtle([[:blank:]].*)0,1$/1/p' for a real equivalent.
– Stéphane Chazelas
11 hours ago

Note that <Turtle> is not portable and would match on Red-Turtle. You would need something like sed -n 's/^[[:blank:]]*([^[:blank:]]1,)[[:blank:]]1,Turtle([[:blank:]].*)0,1$/1/p' for a real equivalent.
– Stéphane Chazelas
11 hours ago

@Kusalananda: Also, of course, your sed solution would match “Turtle” appearing in any column.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

@Kusalananda: Also, of course, your sed solution would match “Turtle” appearing in any column.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

 | 
show 1 more comment

up vote
3
down vote

non-awk alternative:

grep -w "Turtle" turtle.txt | cut -d " " -f 1

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

RobotJohnny

740216

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But this would match “Turtle” (or even something like ‘‘Turtle#1998’’ or ‘‘Mock-Turtle’’) appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
3
down vote

non-awk alternative:

grep -w "Turtle" turtle.txt | cut -d " " -f 1

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

RobotJohnny

740216

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But this would match “Turtle” (or even something like ‘‘Turtle#1998’’ or ‘‘Mock-Turtle’’) appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
3
down vote

up vote
3
down vote

non-awk alternative:

grep -w "Turtle" turtle.txt | cut -d " " -f 1

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

RobotJohnny

740216

non-awk alternative:

grep -w "Turtle" turtle.txt | cut -d " " -f 1

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

RobotJohnny

740216

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

answered 14 hours ago

RobotJohnny

740216

answered 14 hours ago

RobotJohnny

740216

answered 14 hours ago

RobotJohnny

740216

740216

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But this would match “Turtle” (or even something like ‘‘Turtle#1998’’ or ‘‘Mock-Turtle’’) appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  But this would match “Turtle” (or even something like ‘‘Turtle#1998’’ or ‘‘Mock-Turtle’’) appearing in any column.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

1

1

But this would match “Turtle” (or even something like ‘‘Turtle#1998’’ or ‘‘Mock-Turtle’’) appearing in any column.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

But this would match “Turtle” (or even something like ‘‘Turtle#1998’’ or ‘‘Mock-Turtle’’) appearing in any column.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

add a comment | 

up vote
1
down vote

You may employ grep in this:

 grep -oP '^d+(?=h+Turtleh)'

share|improve this answer

answered 11 hours ago

Rakesh Sharma

217113

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  We expect answers as complex/cryptic as this  to include an explanation.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
1
down vote

You may employ grep in this:

 grep -oP '^d+(?=h+Turtleh)'

share|improve this answer

answered 11 hours ago

Rakesh Sharma

217113

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  We expect answers as complex/cryptic as this  to include an explanation.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

up vote
1
down vote

up vote
1
down vote

You may employ grep in this:

 grep -oP '^d+(?=h+Turtleh)'

share|improve this answer

answered 11 hours ago

Rakesh Sharma

217113

You may employ grep in this:

 grep -oP '^d+(?=h+Turtleh)'

share|improve this answer

answered 11 hours ago

Rakesh Sharma

217113

share|improve this answer

share|improve this answer

answered 11 hours ago

Rakesh Sharma

217113

answered 11 hours ago

Rakesh Sharma

217113

answered 11 hours ago

Rakesh Sharma

217113

217113

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  We expect answers as complex/cryptic as this  to include an explanation.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  We expect answers as complex/cryptic as this  to include an explanation.
  – G-Man
  6 hours ago
  

  
  
  
  

We expect answers as complex/cryptic as this  to include an explanation.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

We expect answers as complex/cryptic as this  to include an explanation.
– G-Man
6 hours ago

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Kamat is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

 

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Kamat is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

Kamat is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

Kamat is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

 

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