Joining lines using Awk

Friday, May 02, 2014 awk 1 Comments

Let's say I have a input file which looks like below:

Apr 24 2014;
is;
a;
sample;
;
Jun 24 2014 123;
may 25 2014;
is;
b;
sample;
;
Dec 21 2014 987

I want to merge 6 lines at a time. Which means my output should look like:

Apr 24 2014;is;a;sample;;Jun 24 2014 123
may 25 2014;is;b;sample;;Dec 21 2014 987

Below is a simple command that I would use:

awk '{ORS=(NR%6?"":RS)}1' file

Explanation:
By doing,

ORS=(NR%6?"":RS)

I am setting the output record separator to actual record separator only if line number is a multiple of 6.