Chapter 11. The awk Programming Language

The awk programming language is often used for text and string manipulation within shell scripts, particularly when input data can be viewed as records and fields. However, it is also an elegant and capable programming language that allows you to accomplish a lot with very little work.

This chapter presents the following topics:

  • Conceptual overview

  • Command-line syntax

  • Patterns and actions

  • Built-in variables

  • Operators

  • Variables and array assignment

  • User-defined functions

  • gawk-specific facilities

  • Implementation limits

  • Group listing of awk functions and commands

  • Alphabetical summary of awk functions and commands

  • Source code

For more information, see sed & awk and Effective awk Programming, listed in the Bibliography.

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