Unix Tip: REMOVING BLANK LINES

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Unix Tip 3292 - February 13, 2012

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REMOVING BLANK LINES

To remove blank lines from a file using sed, use the following:

sed -e '/^$/d' filetoread >filetowrite

The ^ matches the beginning of a line and the $ matches the end.
The two of them together matches a line that begins and ends with
nothing in between (blank line).
The d just says delete the lines for which we have a match.
Since the standard operation of sed is to print every line,
all lines exept blank lines will be sent to filetowrite.

This tip generously supported by: code@ionet.net

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