[CentOS] script help - '3rd last field'

[Jacques B.]

On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 5:29 AM, Tom Brown<tom at ng23.net> wrote:
> Hi
>
> I need some logic to work out a value for me - this value is _always_
> the 3rd last field in a string seperated by '.' but the string could be
> 5 or 6 fields long, e.g
>
> foo.bar.VALUE.baz.lala
>
> foor.bar.gigi.VALUE.baz.lala
>
> I need to find VALUE - if this were python or something i could do it
> but this has to be in shell -
>
> Any clues?
>
> thanks
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I am pretty sure there is a way in awk to figure out how many fields
you have, then take the total # of fields -3 each time to get the
third last one.  Just heading out the door and off hand can't remember
how it would be done.

Jacques B.