±combine

Combines a new single CSV column out of two or more other columns

Combining a new column from two other columns
Combining a column from more than two other columns

This command builds a new column from concatenating two or more existing columns, optionally replacing them at the same place.

The basic principle is simple:

±combine[New Column]@[Old Column],[Old Column]...

The given column names can be denoted as a list that is comma separated, and/or as a column name range (see below).

Modes of Combining Columns

There are three modes of combining. The combining mode is defined by the command mode.

combine, or combine/s. The denoted columns will be combined into one new column as described. The new column will be in the place of the leftmost of the existing columns. These columns will be lost.
combine/l The new column will be inserted left to the leftmost of the existing columns. These columns will be kept also.
combine/r The new column will be inserted right to the rightmost of the existing columns. These columns will be kept also.

The separator

The separator string is defined by an optional command parameter after the "=". The separator string, if one is given, will be inserted between each of the new columns.
If there is no separator string given, the columns will be concatenated directly, without any separator.

Combining a new column from two other columns

This is most simple. Just name the existing columns, the new column name, and the desired separator that will be inserted, and the denoted columns will be replaced by the new one, if desired, or the existing columns will also be kept.

Pattern

±combine[New Column]@[Old Column],[Old Column] ±combine[New Column]@[Old Column],[Old Column]=Separator string

Usage examples:

This small CSV table will be used in the following examples:

firstlastnames.csv
City	First_Name	Last_Name	Birth	Driver License
Rome	Andrea	Bocelli	1958	y
Los Angeles	Lieutnant	Columbo	1927	y
London	Hercule	Poirot	1910	-
New York	Theodoros	Kojak	1922	y

The following examples show how to combine two columns in various modes.
We will use the columns First_Name and Last_Name for this.

csvfox firstlastnames.csv -combine[Full_Name]@[First_Name],[Last_Name] fullnames.csv

First_Name and Last_Name shall be combined into the new field "Full_Name".
The resulting CSV table is written to fullnames.csv.

fullnames.csv
City	Full_Name	Birth	Driver License
Rome	AndreaBocelli	1958	y
Los Angeles	LieutnantColumbo	1927	y
London	HerculePoirot	1910	-
New York	TheodorosKojak	1922	y

Oops, we forgot the separator string!

-combine[Full_Name]@[First_Name],[Last_Name]=\s

The same as above, but this time a whitespace shall be inserted as a separator.

City	Full_Name	Birth	Driver License
Rome	Andrea Bocelli	1958	y
Los Angeles	Lieutnant Columbo	1927	y
London	Hercule Poirot	1910	-
New York	Theodoros Kojak	1922	y

-combine/l[Full_Name]@[First_Name],[Last_Name]=\s

The same as above, but we insert the new column left to the existing columns, because we want to keep those also.

City	Full_Name	First_Name	Last_Name	Birth	Driver License
Rome	Andrea Bocelli	Andrea	Bocelli	1958	y
Los Angeles	Lieutnant Columbo	Lieutnant	Columbo	1927	y
London	Hercule Poirot	Hercule	Poirot	1910	-
New York	Theodoros Kojak	Theodoros	Kojak	1922	y

-combine/r[Full_Name]@[First_Name],[Last_Name]=\s

The same as above, but this time we want to insert the new column right to the existing columns.

City	First_Name	Last_Name	Full_Name	Birth	Driver License
Rome	Andrea	Bocelli	Andrea Bocelli	1958	y
Los Angeles	Lieutnant	Columbo	Lieutnant Columbo	1927	y
London	Hercule	Poirot	Hercule Poirot	1910	-
New York	Theodoros	Kojak	Theodoros Kojak	1922	y

Combining a column from more than two other columns

Description

This works exactly like before. You just denote even more new columns!
But because here more splitting takes place, there is the option to handle each splitting occurance differently (see below).

Pattern

±combine[New Column]@[Old Column],[Old Column]-[Old Column] ... ±combine[New Column]@[Old Column],[Old Column]-[Old Column]=separator ±combine/mode[New Column]@[Old Column],[Old Column]-[Old Column]=separator,separator,separator ...

Usage Examples:

To be completed ...

ProductsWithCategories.csv
Name	ProductID	Gender	Level2	Level3	Level4	Level5	Price
Green Fashion Jacket	JACKET1		Women	Outdoor	Jackets	Transitional	220 $
Black Rain Coat	RAINCOAT1		Women	Outdoor	Coats	Rain	200 $
Rubber Flubber Rainboots	W4589356			Women	Shoes	Boots	100 $
Dragon Style Men's Blue Jeans	J4534656	Men	Trousers	Jeans	Stonewashed	Used	100 $

Using more separators for more fields

You can optionally define a series of splitting separator strings, one for each new column. In this case, the number of splitting separator strings must exactly correspond to the number of new columns minus 1, as each one will be used for separating one new field. These splitting separator strings must be concatenated by comma ,, like
-combine[New]@[Old1],[Old2],[Old3],[Old4]=1.,2.,3. or
-combine[New]@[Old1],[Old2],[Old3],[Old4]=-,-,\s .

If the comma iself must be specified as separator, and it is the only separator, just write -combine(...)=, .
But if the comma is part of a separator string instead, or included in the separator list, it must be escaped for clarity:
-combine(...)=-,\,,- Here we have a list of three separators (hyphen, escaped comma, hyphen), for separating four columns.

to be completed ....