loq

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FIXEDWIDTH Format ​

Parse fixed-width/columnar text files with defined field positions.

Overview ​

The FIXEDWIDTH format reads text files where fields occupy fixed character positions, common in legacy systems and mainframe exports.

Usage ​

bash
loq -i:FIXEDWIDTH --iFieldDef "name:0-19,age:20-23,city:24-" "SELECT * FROM data.txt"

Field Definition Syntax ​

The --iFieldDef option defines fields as: name:start-end separated by commas.

  • name:0-9 - Characters 0-9 (10 chars)
  • name:10- - Character 10 to end of line
  • name:5-5 - Single character at position 5

Examples ​

Basic fixed-width parsing ​

bash
loq -i:FIXEDWIDTH --iFieldDef "id:0-4,name:5-24,amount:25-34" "SELECT * FROM ledger.txt"

Filter fixed-width data ​

bash
loq -i:FIXEDWIDTH --iFieldDef "code:0-3,desc:4-29,qty:30-35" \
  "SELECT * FROM inventory.txt WHERE qty > 100"

Mainframe COBOL output ​

bash
loq -i:FIXEDWIDTH --iFieldDef "acct:0-9,name:10-39,balance:40-51" \
  "SELECT acct, name, balance FROM accounts.dat WHERE balance > 1000"

Notes ​

  • Field positions are 0-indexed
  • Trailing spaces are trimmed by default
  • Use exact positions from your data layout documentation

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