Bash read file to an array based on two delimiters -
i have file need parse array want brief portion of each line , first 84 lines. line maybe: >mt gi... and want mt entered array. other times might this: >gl000207.1 dn... and need gl000207.1 i thinking might able set 2 delimiters (one being '>' , other being ' ' whitespace) not sure how go it. have read other peoples posts internal field separator not sure of how work. think perhaps might work though? desiredarray=$(echo file.whatever | tr ">" " ") x in $desiredarray echo > $x done any suggestions? how about: head -84 <file> | awk '{print $1}' | tr -d '>' head takes first lines of file, awk strips off first space , after it, , tr gets rid of '>'.