# Quote Grouped Elements

> Use when converting space-separated grouped values into quoted comma-joined lines for downstream EDirect or shell formatting steps.

- Skill: `vimalinx/quote-grouped-elements` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add vimalinx/quote-grouped-elements`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/vimalinx/quote-grouped-elements/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: vimalinx (https://skillmd.com/u/vimalinx)
- Updated: 2026-09-09
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/vimalinx/quote-grouped-elements

---


# quote-grouped-elements

## Quick Start

- **Command:** `quote-grouped-elements`
- **Local executable:** `/home/vimalinx/miniforge3/envs/bio/bin/quote-grouped-elements`
- **I/O shape:** reads stdin and rewrites each nonblank line as `"a","b","c"`

## When To Use This Tool

- Turn grouped space-separated values into a quoted comma-joined representation.
- Clean up shell / EDirect output just before embedding it into CSV-like text.
- Remove blank lines while preserving one transformed output row per populated input line.
- Keep formatting in a one-line stream editor instead of hand-rolling `sed` repeatedly.

## Common Patterns

```bash
# 1) Quote a simple grouped line
printf 'alpha beta gamma\n' | quote-grouped-elements
```

```bash
# 2) Blank lines are removed
printf 'alpha beta\n\none two\n' | quote-grouped-elements
```

```bash
# 3) Use after another tool emits space-separated groups
xtract -pattern Item -element GroupedValues |
quote-grouped-elements
```

## Recommended Workflow

1. Make sure each input line already contains the grouped values you want to keep together.
2. Pipe the text through `quote-grouped-elements` as a final formatting step.
3. Verify that spaces really are your intended delimiters before using the output in CSV-like contexts.
4. Hand off the quoted lines to the next shell or reporting stage.

## Guardrails

- There is no option parsing or help output; the wrapper only reads stdin and rewrites text.
- Blank lines are dropped entirely.
- Every literal space becomes a field separator, so elements containing internal spaces are split apart.
- Existing quotes are not escaped, and tabs are not treated as delimiters.
- The result looks CSV-like but is only a simple quoted comma-joined text transform, not a full CSV serializer.