How to replace second column of csv file with a specific value "XYX"

Question

To replace last field of csv file with xyz I use following command:

awk -F, '{$NF="xyz";}1' OFS=, file

How can I overwrite the second column of file with value xyz?

Solution 1

In awk the variable NF is the number of fields on the current line. You can refer to each field like $1,$2...$NF where $1 is the first field and $2 is the second field, upto $NF which is the last field on the current line (i.e. if NF is 5 then $NF is $5).

$ cat file
1,2,3,4,5

$ awk '$2="XYX"' FS=, OFS=, file
1,XYX,3,4,5

Solution 2

are you looking for:

awk '{$2="XYX"}1' file

?

if you want FS to be comma:

 awk -F, '{$2="XYX"}1' OFS=, file