GNU bug report logs - #22001
Is it possible to tab separate concatenated files?

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From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: "Macdonald, Kim - BCCDC" <kim.macdonald <at> bccdc.ca>, 22001 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#22001: Is it possible to tab separate concatenated files?
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2015 17:02:44 -0500

tag 22001 notabug
close 22001
stop

Hello Kim,

On 11/23/2015 03:50 PM, Macdonald, Kim - BCCDC wrote:
> I’m just looking at the options for the cat command – I see there’s a
> way to ignore tabs when they exist – but is there a way to tab
> separate the files you’re concatenating with the cat command?

It is unclear (to me) what you're trying to achieve - could provide a bit more details (perhaps a short example) ?

If you have a file (one file) with spaces and you wish to convert them to tabs, consider the 'expand' command (then pipe to 'cat' if needed).

If you have multiple files and you wish to print them side-by-side, separated by tabs (as opposed to one-after-the-other, as with 'cat'),
consider using 'paste':

  $ cat 1.txt
  a
  b
  c
  d

  $ cat 2.txt
  1
  2
  3
  4

  $ cat 3.txt
  w
  x
  y
  z

  $ paste 1.txt 2.txt 3.txt
  a	1	w
  b	2	x
  c	3	y
  d	4	z

regards,
 - assaf

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