.TH rmblank "" "" "/rdb Command"
.PC "Remove blank rows from a table"
\fBrmblank < \fItable\fR
.PP
.II "row^delete blank"
.II "blank row^delete"
.II delete
.II replace
The command
.B rmblank
deletes from
.I table
all input rows that consist of only white space (spaces and tabs).
The related programs
.B delete
and
.B replace
blank out records.
They can be used in transaction processing where the files
are too large to process and several users are updating them.
At a quiet time, the files can be compacted and reindexed.
.PP
Be sure to reindex any file that is processed by either
.B rmblank
or
.B compress.
.SH Example
First we have table
.BR inventory ,
as follows:
.DM
Item    Amount  Cost    Value   Description   
----    ------  ----    -----   --------------
   1         3    50      150   rubber gloves
   2       100     5      500   test tubes
   3         5    80      400   clamps
   4        23    19      437   plates
   5        99    24     2376   cleaning cloth
   6        89   147    13083   bunsen burners
   7         5   175      875   scales
.DE
.PP
Then we delete record 4
.DM
	echo 4 | delete inventory Item
.DE
.PP
and
.B inventory
now appears as follows:
.DM
Item    Amount  Cost    Value   Description   
----    ------  ----    -----   --------------
   1         3    50      150   rubber gloves
   2       100     5      500   test tubes
   3         5    80      400   clamps
                                      
   5        99    24     2376   cleaning cloth
   6        89   147    13083   bunsen burners
   7         5   175      875   scales
.DE
.PP
The command
.B see
shows the contents of
.B inventory
actually to be as follows:
.DM
Item^IAmount^ICost^IValue^IDescription   $
----^I------^I----^I-----^I--------------$
   1^I     3^I  50^I  150^Irubber gloves$
   2^I   100^I   5^I  500^Itest tubes$
   3^I     5^I  80^I  400^Iclamps$
    ^I      ^I    ^I     ^I      $
   5^I    99^I  24^I 2376^Icleaning cloth$
   6^I    89^I 147^I13083^Ibunsen burners$
   7^I     5^I 175^I  875^Iscales$
.DE
.PP
Now the command
.DM
	rmblank < inventory
.DE
.PP
removes lines that consist only of blanks.
After we run this command,
.B inventory
appears as follows:
.DM
Item    Amount  Cost    Value   Description   
----    ------  ----    -----   --------------
   1         3    50      150   rubber gloves
   2       100     5      500   test tubes
   3         5    80      400   clamps
   5        99    24     2376   cleaning cloth
   6        89   147    13083   bunsen burners
   7         5   175      875   scales
.DE
.PP
Remember to reindex a file after you run
.B rmblank
on it.
.SH "See Also"
.B
compress,
delete,
index,
replace,
rmblank
.R
.SO rmblank