UNIX® Shells by Example, Third Edition

awk—pattern scanning and processing language

awk [ –fprogram–file ] [ –Fc ] [ prog ] [ parameters ][ filename...]

awk scans each input filename for lines that match any of a set of patterns specified in prog.

Example A.2.

1 awk '{print $1, $2}' file 2 awk '/John/{print $3, $4}' file 3 awk -F: '{print $3}' /etc/passwd 4 date | awk '{print $6}'

EXPLANATION Prints the first two fields of file where fields are separated by whitespace. Prints fields 3 and 4 if the pattern John is found. Using a colon as the field separator, prints the third field of the /etc/passwd file. Sends the output of the date command to awk and prints the sixth field.