Storing awk manipulation in variable

I have two text files in tab delimted format like following.

file_1

Entry_1 36372   36414   7   Aa  14956   36371   -
Entry_1 36471   36526   3   Aa  14956   36371   -

file_2

Entry_1 36365   36395   -
Entry_1 36366   36394   -
Entry_1 36367   36395   -
Entry_1 36368   36395   -
Entry_1 36394   36414   -
Entry_1 36471   36502   +
Entry_1 36483   36516   +
Entry_1 36495   36526   +

these two file contents were stored into two different variables. Now I would like extract the lines which has “+” symbol in column 4 and store it in the variable and later print it. But it throws me error message:

"line 4: /usr/bin/awk: Argument list too long"
"line 5: /usr/bin/awk: Argument list too long"

Here is my code which I tried

#!/bin/bash
value_1=$(cat file_1.txt);
value_2=$(cat file_2.txt);
plus="$(awk '$4=="+"' "$value_2" )"
minus="$(awk '$4=="-"' "$value_2")"
echo "$plus"
echo "$minus"

Kindly guide me. I would like extract those entries with which has “+” and “-” symbol and store in variable “$plus” and “$minus”.

Answer

file.1 doesn’t seem to be used. To get the lines to a variable you can do this

$ plus=$(awk '$4=="+"' file.2)

similarly, you can do the same for negative sign.

$ echo "$plus"

Entry_1 36471   36502   +
Entry_1 36483   36516   +
Entry_1 36495   36526   +

if this is what you wanted to achieve.

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Answer