Reshape Data with Rs

The rs command is a powerful utility for reshaping data, allowing you to convert input streams into a specified number of rows and columns. This is particularly useful for reformatting tabular data or preparing output for further processing.

Basic Reshaping

To reshape data into a specific number of rows and columns, you can pipe input to the rs command. For example, to create a 4x9 grid from 36 lines of input:

# reshape data: number of rows and columns
jot 36 | rs 4 9

Handling Dummy Values

When the total number of input items doesn't perfectly divide into the specified rows and columns, you can use a dummy value. The rs command uses 0 as a default dummy value if either the row or column count is specified as 0. This is useful when you need a fixed number of columns, for instance:

# 0 is a dummy value for either the row or column count
# (4 columns)
jot 36 | rs 0 4

Transposing Output

The rs command also supports transposing output. By using the -t option, you can effectively swap rows and columns of the input data. This is achieved by specifying the number of columns for the transposed output:

# transpose output
jot 36 | rs -t 0 4

Further Resources

• Rs man page
• GNU Coreutils