Re: Numerical field labels and --header-in

[Erik Auerswald]

Hi,

On 20.05.22 06:13, Tim Rice wrote:
> >  0    1   2
> >  1.1 2.2 3.3
> >
> > Then 'datamash --header-in sum 1' returns 1.1 and NOT 2.2. This sucks.
>
> Oh yeah, good catch.
>
> > If header names are available, those thould be the only way to reference
> > fields.
>
> I'm afraid this would break a lot of backwards compatibility.

The info documentation describes this and provides the correct
syntax to reference a number from the header line as field name:

   "Field names must be escaped with a backslash if they start with a
    digit or contain special characters (dash/minus, colons, commas)."

    $ printf '0\t1\t2\n1.1\t2.2\t3.3\n'
    0       1       2
    1.1     2.2     3.3
    $ printf '0\t1\t2\n1.1\t2.2\t3.3\n' \
    > | env LC_NUMERIC=C ./datamash --header-in sum 1
    1.1
    $ printf '0\t1\t2\n1.1\t2.2\t3.3\n' \
    > | env LC_NUMERIC=C ./datamash --header-in sum \\1
    2.2

Thus I'd say this behavior should not be changed.

Thanks,
Erik