Reads specific lines of text documents.
The refine command was created to read specific lines of text files. This command, usually does the service that head and tail do. However, it has some extra parameters that are not present in other commands in a natural way.
The interest of this project is to create a command that facilitates the search for specific lines in files, without having to resort to pipes or huge codes to obtain the desired output.
For example, I want the clean output of line 10:
$ cat -n file.txt | grep -w "10" | cut -d$'\t' -f2-If there is a more efficient way, it will not be different from that. Another example is to display lines 10 to 20:
$ head -20 file.txt | tail -11It is short, but if the file has 15 lines instead of 20, this combination will not do this control and will display 11 lines and not 6, which would be 10 to 15.
The refine it has the following syntax:
$ refn [options] file.txt
The refine it has a series of parameters. See the follow:
-f: To read the first lines of the files.
-l: To read the last lines of the files.
-d: To read the specific lines of the files.
-i: To read inverted the specific lines of the files.
-c: Enable color for f, l, d and i parameters.
-s: Simple visualization for f, l, d and i parameters.
-h: To view help information.The use of refine is very simple. Let's start with the basic commands. How was said, this command has the functions of head and tail, but with some improvements, as can be seen folow:
$ head -5 LICENSE
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <https://fsf.org/>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies$ refn -f 5 LICENSE
/home/mauricio/GIT/refine/LICENSE:
1: GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
2: Version 3, 29 June 2007
3:
4: Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <https://fsf.org/>
5: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies$ refn -f 5 -s LICENSE
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <https://fsf.org/>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copiesNow, compared to the tail. As you can see, the last line does not enter the equation if it is empty, just like the tail:
$ tail -5 LICENSE
into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you
may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with
the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General
Public License instead of this License. But first, please read
<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html>.$ refn -l 5 LICENSE
/home/mauricio/GIT/refine/LICENSE:
670: into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you
671: may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with
672: the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General
673: Public License instead of this License. But first, please read
674: <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html>.$ refn -l 5 -s LICENSE
into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you
may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with
the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General
Public License instead of this License. But first, please read
<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html>.Now comes the part that makes sense of the command existance. Let's compare the output of specific numbers of lines, which, in the example, will be listed lines in 26 to 30, as can be seen folow:
$ head -30 LICENSE | tail -5
want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new
free programs, and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you
these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have$ refn -d 26-30 LICENSE
/home/mauricio/GIT/refine/LICENSE:
26: want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new
27: free programs, and that you know you can do these things.
28:
29: To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you
30: these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have$ refn -d 26-30 -s LICENSE
want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new
free programs, and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you
these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you haveNow, to close with golden key, let's analyze the code used to read only a specific line, as in the following example:
$ cat -n LICENSE | grep -w " 10"
10 The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for
446 10. Automatic Licensing of Downstream Recipients.$ cat -n LICENSE | grep -w " 10" | cut -d$'\t' -f2-
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for
10. Automatic Licensing of Downstream Recipients.$ refn -d 10 LICENSE
/home/mauricio/GIT/refine/LICENSE:
10: The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for$ refn -d 10 -s LICENSE
The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license forYou want the tenth last line? Here it is:
$ refn -i 10 /etc/slackpkg/mirrors
/etc/slackpkg/mirrors:
353: # https://mirror.slackbuilds.org/slackware/slackware64-current/$ refn -i 10 -s /etc/slackpkg/mirrors
# https://mirror.slackbuilds.org/slackware/slackware64-current/The result dispenses with comments. So, to conclude, here is a command alternative to facilitate the search for specific lines in files.
--> NOTE: The commands '-f', '-l', '-d' and '-i' were thought to be used separately.
This repository has scripts that were created to be free software.
Therefore, they can be distributed and / or modified within the terms of the GNU General Public License.
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Inc. 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
In case of bugs, execution problems or packages construction, constructive criticism, among others, please submit a message to one of the contacts below.
Autor: Mauricio Ferrari
E-Mail: [email protected]
Telegram: @maurixnovatrento