Linux file formating

Question

I have a file where character are in the type abcd abcd abcd abcd but my client wants them in the format as

abcd
abcd
abcd
abcd

I tried to add some formatting to your post, but please take a look and see if it's right. See the formatting help if needed. — Jeff Schaller, Jun 08 '17 at 15:23
Also, a more complete/thorough example of the contents would help Answerers give you something useful for your case. How should the transformation happen? — Jeff Schaller, Jun 08 '17 at 15:24
Are the "fields" always separated by a space or tab? If a space and you want them separated by newlines instead you can use tr for this: `tr ' ' '\n' < filename — JayJay, Jun 08 '17 at 15:25

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 08 '17 at 15:24

1

Use the tr command to replace spaces with newlines.

tr ' ' '\n' < file.txt > newfile.txt

answered Jun 08 '17 at 15:24

Barmar

what if there two spaces between some items? – RomanPerekhrest Jun 08 '17 at 15:25
4

Then he should change the question to say that. – Barmar Jun 08 '17 at 15:27

Hartmut · Answer 2 · 2017-06-08T15:33:02.757

0

If the delimeter is just a space the following command should work:

sed 's/[[:space:]]/\n/g' infilename > outfilename

otherwise use [[:blank:]] to also includ tabs, form feeds, newlines and carriage returens

If there are more spaces/blanks between the words, just use an asterix behind the [[:space:]] :

sed 's/[[:space:]]*/\n/g' infilename > outfilename

edited Jun 08 '17 at 15:33

answered Jun 08 '17 at 15:27

Hartmut

2 Answers2