paste

Insert lines from files using Linux paste command:

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Input files:

$ cat contestant.txt

Christopher

Williams

Darwin

Ajay

Brain

Amay

Jiten

Lila

$ cat leader.txt

Mr B

Mrs C

Mrs A

Output required:

For every single line of 'leader.txt'; insert 3 lines from file 'contestant.txt'; so that the output looks like this:

Mr B

Christopher

Williams

Darwin

Mrs C

Ajay

Brain

Amay

Mrs A

Jiten

Lila

The step by step solution using Linux/UNIX paste command

$ cat contestant.txt | paste - - -

Output:

Christopher     Williams        Darwin

Ajay    Brain   Amay

Jiten   Lila

$ cat contestant.txt | paste - - - | paste leader.txt -

Output:

Mr B    Christopher     Williams        Darwin

Mrs C   Ajay    Brain   Amay

Mrs A   Jiten   Lila

$ cat contestant.txt | paste - - - |paste leader.txt - |tr "\t" "\n"

Output:

Mr B

Christopher

Williams

Darwin

Mrs C

Ajay

Brain

Amay

Mrs A

Jiten

Lila