DBCOLMERGE(1)

📦
version 3.9 · 3 versions
, in epel 9

💅 DBCOLMERGE(1) — bestie's guide to merging columns 💅

okay so this is a page from the User Contributed Perl Documentation collection, and it's about a little tool called dbcolmerge and honestly? it's a whole vibe. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

dbcolmerge — merge multiple columns into one. that's it. that's the girl. 💖

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

dbcolmerge [-C ElementSeparator] [columns...]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so picture this: for each row, dbcolmerge merges multiple columns down to a single column — and it's always a string, no exceptions, that's just the rules bestie — joining the elements with ElementSeparator, which defaults to a single underscore (_). lowkey iconic, highkey useful. ✨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -C S or --element-separator S — specify the separator used to join columns. (defaults to a single underscore.) 🎀
  • -e E or --empty E — give value E as the value for empty (null) records. no more awkward blank energy 💀

This module also supports the standard fsdb options, and yes we're listing all of them, come on now 👑

  • -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. 🧚
  • --header H — use H as the full Fsdb header, rather than reading a header from then input. (yes, "then input", the manpage said what it said, we respect the original ✍️)
  • --help — show help. 🫶
  • --man — show full manual. the one you're reading rn, meta ik 😭

⭐ SAMPLE USAGE ⭐

🌼 Input:

#fsdb      first   last
John    Heidemann
Greg    Johnson
Root    -
# this is a simple database
#  | /home/johnh/BIN/DB/dbcol fullname
#  | dbcolrename fullname first_last
#  | /home/johnh/BIN/DB/dbcolsplit -C _ first_last
#  | /home/johnh/BIN/DB/dbcol first last

🌼 Command:

cat data.fsdb | dbcolmerge -C _ first last

🌼 Output:

#fsdb      first   last    first_last
John    Heidemann       John_Heidemann
Greg    Johnson Greg_Johnson
Root    -        Root_
# this is a simple database
#  | /home/johnh/BIN/DB/dbcol fullname
#  | dbcolrename fullname first_last
#  | /home/johnh/BIN/DB/dbcolsplit first_last
#  | /home/johnh/BIN/DB/dbcol first last
#  | /home/johnh/BIN/DB/dbcolmerge -C _ first last

like look at that — John + Heidemann = John_Heidemann, slay. and Root with a - becomes Root_ because the empty side just... doesn't show up. ate and left no crumbs 💅

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

Fsdb. dbcolsplittocols. dbcolsplittorows. dbcolrename.

(the whole friend group, honestly 👯‍♀️)

Copyright (C) 1991-2022 by John Heidemann <johnh@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. 📜

kay that's the whole thing, hope it ate 💖 this page came to you courtesy of perl v5.32.1, dated 2024-08-02, and it's the DBCOLMERGE(1) page — go merge some columns bestie, ily, bye 🎀✨🦋

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