searching a file and passing information to another file

[surfin]

I'm currently using bash and would like to search a file for Start and clip all of the data from start to end and pass it to another file or display it on the screen. Example:
12
12
12
12

Start
1
1
1
1
1
End


123
123
123
123


Thanks

[Roxoff]

You probably want to use the 'grep' tool, check its man page. You do know that posting homework questions is against the forum rules, don't you?

[surfin]

I'm not a student. I've been asked to manage a linux box at work

[drl]

Hi, surfin.

Welcome to the forum.

For simply structured blocks like this amended version of your data file, either sed or awk could be used:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# @(#) s1	Demonstrate extraction of block of data.

echo
set +o nounset
LC_ALL=C ; LANG=C ; export LC_ALL LANG
echo "Environment: LC_ALL = $LC_ALL, LANG = $LANG"
echo "(Versions displayed with local utility \"version\")"
version >/dev/null 2>&1 && version "=o" $(_eat $0 $1) sed awk
set -o nounset
echo

FILE=${1-data1}

echo " Data file $FILE:"
cat $FILE

echo
echo " Results, sed:"
sed -n '/^Start/,/^End/p' $FILE

echo
echo " Results, awk:"
awk '/^Start/,/^End/ { print }' $FILE

exit 0

producing:

% ./s1

Environment: LC_ALL = C, LANG = C
(Versions displayed with local utility "version")
OS, ker|rel, machine: Linux, 2.6.26-2-amd64, x86_64
Distribution        : Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 
GNU bash 3.2.39
GNU sed version 4.1.5
GNU Awk 3.1.5

 Data file data1:
12
12

Start
1
End


123
123
Start
2
End
456
Start
3

 Results, sed:
Start
1
End
Start
2
End
Start
3

 Results, awk:
Start
1
End
Start
2
End
Start
3

If your file has an unterminated block, then everything from the final "Start" until the end of the file will be extracted. There are ways that you could guard against that, but it would take more than the simple solutions provided here. Of these two tools, I think awk is the better one to learn for most people. I find that sed is quite capable, but it's like texting using a simple keypad, rather than a keyboard.

When you are asking questions that involve data transformations, it is best if you also provide the output you want. If you have a problem with an existing solution, provide the incorrect output that you got.

Most responders like to see that that you have tried to solve the problem yourself.

Note the use of mark-up tags to make data and code easier to read -- to get that, select the text, click the # above the editing window, and tags will be inserted for you.

Best wishes ... cheers, drl