in reply to tricky text file

Yes, without formatting due to the lack of <code> and </code> tags, it is difficult to know what you need exactly.

Perhaps a starting point:

$ echo ' | | | SNDYN000036000 | Unloadable | The SKU is not valid for +the | | | | | | vendor with vendor number | | | | | | 875323. | ' | +perl -pe 's/\|//g;' SNDYN000036000 Unloadable The SKU is not valid for the ven +dor with vendor number 875323.
Or, you you want to remove also the extra spaces:
$ echo ' | | | SNDYN000036000 | Unloadable | The SKU is not valid for +the | | | | | | vendor with vendor number | | | | | | 875323. | ' | +perl -pe 's/\|//g; s/\s+/ /g;' SNDYN000036000 Unloadable The SKU is not valid for the vendor with ve +ndor number 875323.
Update: I had not seen your new post with the formatted data when I wrote my post. Obviously, a bit more is required, though possibly not so much:
$ echo '-------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------------- > | Vendor | Vendor | Sku Number | Status | Status Detail + | > | ID | Name | | | + | > -------------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------- > | | | SNDYN000036000 | Unloadable | The SKU is not v +alid for the | > | | | | | vendor with vend +or number | > | | | | | 875323. + |' | perl -pe 's/\|//g; s/\s+/ /g;' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- +-------------- Vendor Vendor Sku Number Status Status Detail ID Nam +e ------------------------------------------------------------------- +----------------- SNDYN000036000 Unloadable The SKU is not valid for + the vendor with vendor number 875323.
In brief, you have to tell what to do with the column headers, dashes, etc., and we can get pretty close to your needs. For example, something m perhaps closer to your needs:
$ echo '-------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------------- > | Vendor | Vendor | Sku Number | Status | Status Detail + | > | ID | Name | | | + | > -------------------------------------------------------------------- +---------------- > | | | SNDYN000036000 | Unloadable | The SKU is not v +alid for the | > | | | | | vendor with vend +or number | > | | | | | 875323. + | > ' | perl -ne 'next if /^\s*-/; s/\|//g; s/\s+/ /g; print;' Vendor Vendor Sku Number Status Status Detail ID Name SNDYN00003600 +0 Unloadable The SKU is not valid for the vendor with vendor number + 875323.