Duplicate the field in the first column

Question

I have the below input

L12194C;               
           ;1;8;12     
           ;2;30;46    
           ;3;49;71    
           ;4;0;0      
           ;5;0;0      
           ;6;1;3      
L15698A2;              
           ;4;2;4      
           ;5;0;0      
           ;6;0;0      
L2281A2;               
           ;4;1;2      
           ;5;0;0      
12302C;                
           ;1;8;11     
           ;2;1;1      
           ;3;1;1      
           ;4;1;2      
           ;5;2;4      
           ;6;0;0      

I want the output to be

L12194C;1;8 ;12        
L12194C;2;30;46        
L12194C;3;49;71        
L12194C;4;0;0          
L12194C;5;0;0          
L12194C;6;1;3          

L15698A2;4;2;4         
L15698A2;5;0;0         
L15698A2;6;0;0         

L2281A2;4;1;2          
L2281A2;5;0;0          

12302C;1;8;11          
12302C;2;1;1           
12302C;3;1;1           
12302C;4;1;2           
12302C;5;2;4           
12302C;6;0;0           

Answer 1

use AWk :

awk '!/^[[:blank:]]/{j=$1;print "";next}{print j$1}' FILENAME

output:

L12194C;;1;8;12
L12194C;;2;30;46
L12194C;;3;49;71
L12194C;;4;0;0
L12194C;;5;0;0
L12194C;;6;1;3

L15698A2;;4;2;4
L15698A2;;5;0;0
L15698A2;;6;0;0

L2281A2;;4;1;2
L2281A2;;5;0;0

12302C;;1;8;11
12302C;;2;1;1
12302C;;3;1;1
12302C;;4;1;2
12302C;;5;2;4
12302C;;6;0;0

Answer 2

Maybe like this:

sed -E '
    1{ h; d; }
    /^[^ \t]/{ h; s/.*//; p; d; }
    s/^[ \t]+;//; G; s/^(.*)\n(.*)$/\2\1/'

Output:

L12194C;1;8;12
L12194C;2;30;46
L12194C;3;49;71
L12194C;4;0;0
L12194C;5;0;0
L12194C;6;1;3

L15698A2;4;2;4
L15698A2;5;0;0
L15698A2;6;0;0

L2281A2;4;1;2
L2281A2;5;0;0

12302C;1;8;11
12302C;2;1;1
12302C;3;1;1
12302C;4;1;2
12302C;5;2;4
12302C;6;0;0

Answer 3

Are the fields constant? Meaning, every field between the ;'s are related data... If the fields are constant, personally, I'd use a database such as sqlite and insert the data into the db and then use queries to output the data the way you need it. You can also use an array and then arrange the fields in the output that way too.

Answer 4

Another sed:

sed -ne'h;s/.*//p;x;:n' -e'N;s/;.* //p;tn' -eD <in >out

sed saves a copy of pattern space to hold space, s///ubstitutes away all of pattern space and prints the results, then exchanges hold and pattern spaces. This happens on each non-blank 1st field line, and gets the dividing blanks in output where appropriate.

For every other line sed also appends the Next following an inserted \newline delimiter, then attempts to s///ubstitute away all of pattern space between the first semicolon and last space. If both of those chars occur in pattern space, the substitution tests successful, and sed branches back to the :next label to try again.

Else sed Deletes up to and including the first occurring \newline in pattern space before starting over from the top w/ whatever remains.

My results:

L12194C;1;8;12
L12194C;2;30;46
L12194C;3;49;71
L12194C;4;0;0
L12194C;5;0;0
L12194C;6;1;3

L15698A2;4;2;4
L15698A2;5;0;0
L15698A2;6;0;0

L2281A2;4;1;2
L2281A2;5;0;0

12302C;1;8;11
12302C;2;1;1
12302C;3;1;1
12302C;4;1;2
12302C;5;2;4