Delete a column from a delimited file in linux

Question

I have a file in the following format:

col1|col2|col3|col4
a|b|c|d
e|f||h
i|j|k|l

I would like to delete col3 (with the delimiter \"|\") fr

Answer 1

Using cut is the right answer, but if you really want to use awk it's easier than Kent shows:

awk -F'|' 'BEGIN {OFS="|"} {for (n=3; n < NF; ++n) $n = $(n+1); --NF; print}'

Just shuffle the fields after $3 down, then by altering the value of NF you change the number of fields.