You can use cut for this: cut -d " " -f 1-3,5,4,6-8 (the character between the two " is a tab, which you can type by pressing ^V then the tab. Here columns 3 and 4 are exchanged.
It would be really nice if "cut" did this. However, cut doesn't emit the fields in the requested order, but rather (from the man page) "The order of ... fields in the output will be identical to those in the input". I've been stung by this several times, only to sulk away nursing my wounds with some awk or python each time. At least "cut" doesn't behave the way you describe on the several boxes I have at hand (several Linux boxes ATM...don't know how it would behave on a BSD, Mac OX X, or Solaris box, but I could test it on an OpenBSD or Mac box when I get a chance).
So, if it works for you, count yourself lucky...but prepared for it to return a surprising result.
Additionally, if you want to be lazy, the delimiter for "cut" defaults to a tab, so you don't have to specify it unless you use a different delimiter such as a colon.
-tim _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list