merging text files into one

Question

I have four text files each containing a single field. I want to convert them into a single text file with four fields (one from each file). How can I do this using shell scripting.

heemayl · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-03T19:51:24.293

3

This should do:

paste file_1 file_2 file_3 file_4

If you want pretty printing (given that the number of lines are same for all the files), then:

paste 1 2 3 4 | column -t

edited Feb 03 '15 at 19:51

answered Feb 03 '15 at 19:45

heemayl

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note that `column` is likely to break things for files that don't have the same number of lines. – peterph Feb 03 '15 at 19:49
@peterph: yes, edited. – heemayl Feb 03 '15 at 19:50
@peterph - depends what switches his/her version of `column` accepts... see glenn jackman's answer [here](http://unix.stackexchange.com/q/16443) - it works fine with files that don't have the same number of lines. – don_crissti Feb 03 '15 at 21:11
@don_crissti *"... is **likely** to break things..."* You'll have to fiddle with it to make sure things will be what you want them to be. – peterph Feb 04 '15 at 13:38

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 03 '15 at 19:42

2

The paste command does exactly what you're looking for, and the good news is that it's POSIX-standard, so it's available effectively everywhere.

answered Feb 03 '15 at 19:42

aecolley

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merging text files into one

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