From 2c7d26fba8f61ce3e9896f1dc6b6cdcab0061a32 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Chris Koeritz <fred@gruntose.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2021 17:16:29 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] calculates file's average line length

this produces a total that includes blank lines in the average and
another that excludes the blank lines.
---
 scripts/text/average_line_length.sh | 16 ++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 scripts/text/average_line_length.sh

diff --git a/scripts/text/average_line_length.sh b/scripts/text/average_line_length.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..da344382
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/text/average_line_length.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+file="$1"; shift
+if [ -z "$file" -o ! -f "$file" ]; then
+  echo This script needs a filename to operate on as a parameter.
+  echo The file will be examined and the average line length calculated.
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+cat "$file" | 
+awk ' { thislen=length($0); # printf("lines %-5s len %d total %d\n", numlines, thislen, totlen);
+  totlen+=thislen 
+  if (thislen != 0) { numlines++ } }
+END { printf("average line length: %d (no blank lines) or %d (counting blank lines)\n", totlen/numlines, totlen/NR); } ' 
+
+
-- 
2.34.1