how to print max and min value of a column in txt file into variable

Question

How to print max and min value of a column in txt file into variable?

abc.txt:

I have written code to identify max and min value

cut -f2 -d "" abc.txt|head -1
cut -f2 -d "" abc.txt|tail -1
v1 = 'echo <??>|cut -f2 -d "" abc.txt|head -1'
v2 = 'echo <??>|cut -f2 -d "" abc.txt|tail -1'

But I am unable to put it into variable, I need to use it in a loop.
I will not be writing a while read line, because it prints everyline.

shell script text processing

rkhff · Accepted Answer

There are so many ways to do this. Like Ainar-G I'd use Awk:
$ cat abc.txt 
col1  col2
1 35
1 20
1 40
1 50

The below ignores lines containing the pattern 'col'; grabs the second column in the file; and then sorts the numbers:
$ min=$(awk '!/col/ {print $2}' abc.txt | sort -nr | tail -1)
$ max=$(awk '!/col/ {print $2}' abc.txt | sort -nr | head -1)

$ echo "$min"
20

$ echo "$max"
50

Rakesh Sharma · Answer

Math operations can also be done using the desk calculator dc utility in Linux.
It operates on data present on its stack. And when we read a line using the ? command, it places operands (space separated) on the stack. It involves recursively calling commands stored in registers. You can read more in gnu dc manual.
$ if="abc.txt"
$ declare -a a=($(< "$if" tr x- x_ | sed 1d | dc -e "
[q]sq [sMd]sa [sNd]sb
[?z0=qddlM<adlN>bcz0=?]s?
?c ?dsMsN cl?x lMlNf"))
$ min=${a[0]} max=${a[1]}
$ echo "min:$min nax:$max"

min:20 max:50

Ainar-G · Answer

Awk&#xA0;program:
FNR == 1 { next; }

FNR == 2 { max = min = $2; next }

{
    if ($2 > max) {
        max = $2; 
    } else if ($2 < min) {
        min = $2;
    }
}

END { printf("max: %d, min: %dn", max, min); }
Usage:
$ awk -f ./tmp.awk ./tmp.txt
max: 50, min: 20

how to print max and min value of a column in txt file into variable

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