I have a variable length line and would like to resort the...

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Question by Unixtrekkor
Submitted on 7/10/2003
Related FAQ: comp.lang.awk FAQ
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I have a variable length line and would like to resort the items such that the last item is the second and all other items move accordingly. For example: input: a b c output: a c b input: a b c d output: a d b c input: a b c d e output: a e b c d I tried using split to create an array and then store the items into a new array with the new order. However, I'm not making much progress. The first and last items print but nothing else. Thanks for any assistance.

Answer by obrienpx
Submitted on 8/21/2003
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Try: awk '/^/ { NF > 1 ? out = $1 " " $NF : out = $NF for (i = 2; i < NF; i++) out = out " " $i print out }' xxx If file xxx looks like (the fist line is empty": a a b a b c a b c d a b c d e then running the above produces a a b a c b a d b c a e b c d

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