It looks like that should work.
This is my experience:
The first line in the text file is:
"Some Name 1023 01/13/2005 BHHEC 58 0 1 64 140 NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI 3 3 NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI 0.444 -1.3 -0.6 2 SD check it NULLI none NULLI NULLI NULLI yes N NULLI NULLI NULLI yes N none 1 3 NULLI carrot juice 1 NULLI 0 1 2 "
# awk -F "/" '{print $3 "-" $1 "-" $2}' testbmddata
gives me this output on my screen:
"2005 BHHEC 58 0 1 64 140 NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI 3 3 NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI NULLI 0.444 -1.3 -0.6 2 SD check it NULLI none NULLI NULLI NULLI yesN NULLI NULLI NULLI yes N none 1 3 NULLI carrot juice 1 NULLI 0 1 2-Some Name 1023 01-13
gawk or awk makes no difference.
The target is found and the / are replaced with -, however the line is ended after the year ($3) and the first part of the line is put at the end of the line.
awk is a great program but I have not got it right yet.
Thanks
