Replace column in one file with column from another using awk?

Question

I have two files:

file1.txt:

111|aaa|444
222|bbb|555 
333|ccc|666

file2.txt:

111
(null)
333

replacing column two of file1 with column one of file2

Expected Output

new:

111|111|444
222||555
333|333|666

I am using the below command,
awk 'BEGIN {FS=OFS="|"}NR == FNR {a[FNR] = $B;next}$A = a[FNR]' B=1 A=2 file2.txt file1.txt > new.txt

Output which I am getting,

new:

111|111|444
333|333|666

I am loosing the second record. how to avoid loss of record?

I'm voting to reopen this as the duplicate question was deleted. — AdminBee
– AdminBee, Commented Oct 20, 2021 at 14:53

jijinp · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-01 10:45:58Z

4

awk 'BEGIN {FS=OFS="|"}NR == FNR {a[FNR] = $B;next}{$A = a[FNR];print $0}' B=1 A=2 f2 f1

answered Mar 1, 2016 at 10:45

jijinp

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FelixJN · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-01 12:30:04Z

0

Alternatively you can use paste and cut for this:

paste -d'|' <(cut -d'|' -f1 file1) <(cat file2) <(cut -d'|' -f3 file2)

I cannot tell which is better in terms of speed, though.

answered Mar 1, 2016 at 12:30

FelixJN

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2 Answers 2