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f3bruary

Member

From: /root

Registered: 2015-06-06

Posts: 58

[SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

I have a script that fetches multiple entries from a site. I use:

${execi 100 command.sh | awk NR==1}
${execi 100 command.sh | awk NR==2}
${execi 100 command.sh | awk NR==3}
${execi 100 command.sh | awk NR==4}
${execi 100 command.sh | awk NR==5}

I have chosen to only show 5 entries to save space. The problem is that sometimes 5 entries don't exist, but instead only 2, or 3. This causes blank lines where usually text would appear.

Is there any way to only show a line if it actually contains content ? Like some kind of 'if' statement ? I checked the conky variables but didn't see anything that might work.

Last edited by f3bruary (2015-06-19 10:23:52)

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-f3b

Aerial Boundaries

Member

Registered: 2015-05-15

Posts: 26

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

There are no if statements in the Conky config... so put one in your sh script

If the output is empty, do nothing. Else, print output.

I believe that should do what you want.

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,543

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

Oh dear, please do not run that five separate times.  The following would do the exact same as what you have with *far* fewer processes, less CPU use, less memory, etc:

${execi 100 command.sh | awk 'NR < 6'}

Actually, so would a `head -5` command, but head couldn't be adjusted to do what you want, which would be as follows:

${execi 100 command.sh | awk 'NR < 6 { if ($0) print; }'}

But, although I do love awk, it might also be overkill for this.  The following might be more efficient:

${execi 100 command.sh | sed -e '/^$/d' -e '6,$d'}

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"UNIX is simple and coherent" - Dennis Ritchie; "GNU's Not Unix" - Richard Stallman

f3bruary

Member

From: /root

Registered: 2015-06-06

Posts: 58

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

Oh dear, please do not run that five separate times.  The following would do the exact same as what you have with *far* fewer processes, less CPU use, less memory, etc:

${execi 100 command.sh | awk 'NR < 6'}

Actually, so would a `head -5` command, but head couldn't be adjusted to do what you want, which would be as follows:

${execi 100 command.sh | awk 'NR < 6 { if ($0) print; }'}

But, although I do love awk, it might also be overkill for this.  The following might be more efficient:

${execi 100 command.sh | sed -e '/^$/d' -e '6,$d'}

Thanks man that is indeed more efficient. However, I should have been a little more exact in the command I actually use.

${execi 21600 sh ~/.conky/scripts/command.sh event | sed -e '/^$/d' -e '6,$d'}${alignr}${execi 21600 sh ~/.conky/scripts/command.sh date | sed -e '/^$/d' -e '6,$d'}

The first command works just fine they way you recommended. The 2nd command however, does not and instead doesn't align to the right but gets underneath the previous one.

That's why I used 5 lines before. The first command would show the first, let's say 'event', then behind it, the 2nd command would show the respective 'date'.

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-f3b

skanky

Member

From: WAIS

Registered: 2009-10-23

Posts: 1,847

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

Just for completeness, the awk entry could use pattern matching:

${execi 100  command.sh |  awk '/^.+$/ && NR < 6 {print}'}

and the sed option doesn't need two scripts and can use quit:

${execi 100 command.sh | sed '/^$/d; 6q'}

EDIT: typo

Last edited by skanky (2015-06-15 12:11:23)

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f3bruary

Member

From: /root

Registered: 2015-06-06

Posts: 58

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

I found the ${combine} function for conky. It should put 2 command outputs next to each other but it's not working as desired. First of all, using the sed/awk command posted earlier, only the first entry is shown. And second, I can't align the 2nd output to the right (using ${alignr} or ${goto}, it breaks the combine function.

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-f3b

Roken

Member

From: South Wales, UK

Registered: 2012-01-16

Posts: 1,372

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

I'd simply builld the whole lot into a script, where you can limit or discard output as you see fit, and simply:

exec cat /tmp/txt

let your script format the output for conky, so that it's all nice & pretty. The added bonus, is that you can avoid tying conky up with the script.

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Linux user #545703

/ is the root of all problems.

f3bruary

Member

From: /root

Registered: 2015-06-06

Posts: 58

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

The problem is that I can't align the 2 strings for conky except in the conkyrc. If my script output "Event Date" then I cannot split them apart and make sure the date is aligned to the right.

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-f3b

rockin turtle

Member

From: Montana, USA

Registered: 2009-10-22

Posts: 227

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

Use the execpi command:

${execpi 100 command.sh}

Then in your command.sh do something like this:

#!/bin/bash

event="xxxx"
date="$(date)"

echo -n "${event}\${alignr}${date}"

f3bruary

Member

From: /root

Registered: 2015-06-06

Posts: 58

Re: [SOLVED] Conky: How to filter out blank lines from command output.

Use the execpi command:

${execpi 100 command.sh}

Then in your command.sh do something like this:

#!/bin/bash

event="xxxx"
date="$(date)"

echo -n "${event}\${alignr}${date}"

Wow thanks a lot man, I just finished coding it up. Works perfectly !

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-f3b