awk man page on OpenBSD

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AWK(1)			   OpenBSD Reference Manual			AWK(1)

NAME
     awk - pattern-directed scanning and processing language

SYNOPSIS
     awk [-safe] [-V] [-d[n]] [-F fs] [-v var=value] [prog | -f progfile]
	 file ...

DESCRIPTION
     awk scans each input file for lines that match any of a set of patterns
     specified literally in prog or in one or more files specified as -f
     progfile.	With each pattern there can be an associated action that will
     be performed when a line of a file matches the pattern.  Each line is
     matched against the pattern portion of every pattern-action statement;
     the associated action is performed for each matched pattern.  The file
     name `-' means the standard input.	 Any file of the form var=value is
     treated as an assignment, not a filename, and is executed at the time it
     would have been opened if it were a filename.

     The options are as follows:

     -d[n]   Debug mode.  Set debug level to n, or 1 if n is not specified.  A
	     value greater than 1 causes awk to dump core on fatal errors.

     -F fs   Define the input field separator to be the regular expression fs.

     -f progfile
	     Read program code from the specified file progfile instead of
	     from the command line.

     -safe   Disable file output (print >, print >>), process creation (cmd |
	     getline, print |, system) and access to the environment (ENVIRON;
	     see the section on variables below).  This is a first (and not
	     very reliable) approximation to a ``safe'' version of awk.

     -V	     Print the version number of awk to standard output and exit.

     -v var=value
	     Assign value to variable var before prog is executed; any number
	     of -v options may be present.

     The input is normally made up of input lines (records) separated by
     newlines, or by the value of RS.  If RS is null, then any number of blank
     lines are used as the record separator, and newlines are used as field
     separators (in addition to the value of FS).  This is convenient when
     working with multi-line records.

     An input line is normally made up of fields separated by whitespace, or
     by the regular expression FS.  The fields are denoted $1, $2, ..., while
     $0 refers to the entire line.  If FS is null, the input line is split
     into one field per character.

     Normally, any number of blanks separate fields.  In order to set the
     field separator to a single blank, use the -F option with a value of
     `[ ]'.  If a field separator of `t' is specified, awk treats it as if
     `\t' had been specified and uses <TAB> as the field separator.  In order
     to use a literal `t' as the field separator, use the -F option with a
     value of `[t]'.

     A pattern-action statement has the form

	   pattern { action }

     A missing { action } means print the line; a missing pattern always
     matches.  Pattern-action statements are separated by newlines or
     semicolons.

     Newlines are permitted after a terminating statement or following a comma
     (`,'), an open brace (`{'), a logical AND (`&&'), a logical OR (`||'),
     after the `do' or `else' keywords, or after the closing parenthesis of an
     `if', `for', or `while' statement.	 Additionally, a backslash (`\') can
     be used to escape a newline between tokens.

     An action is a sequence of statements.  A statement can be one of the
     following:

	   if (expression) statement [else statement]
	   while (expression) statement
	   for (expression; expression; expression) statement
	   for (var in array) statement
	   do statement while (expression)
	   break
	   continue
	   { [statement ...] }
	   expression # commonly var = expression
	   print [expression-list] [>expression]
	   printf format [..., expression-list] [>expression]
	   return [expression]
	   next # skip remaining patterns on this input line
	   nextfile # skip rest of this file, open next, start at top
	   delete array[expression] # delete an array element
	   delete array # delete all elements of array
	   exit [expression] # exit immediately; status is expression

     Statements are terminated by semicolons, newlines or right braces.	 An
     empty expression-list stands for $0.  String constants are quoted "",
     with the usual C escapes recognized within (see printf(1) for a complete
     list of these).  Expressions take on string or numeric values as
     appropriate, and are built using the operators + - * / % ^
     (exponentiation), and concatenation (indicated by whitespace).  The
     operators ! ++ -- += -= *= /= %= ^= > >= < <= == != ?: are also available
     in expressions.  Variables may be scalars, array elements (denoted x[i])
     or fields.	 Variables are initialized to the null string.	Array
     subscripts may be any string, not necessarily numeric; this allows for a
     form of associative memory.  Multiple subscripts such as [i,j,k] are
     permitted; the constituents are concatenated, separated by the value of
     SUBSEP (see the section on variables below).

     The print statement prints its arguments on the standard output (or on a
     file if >file or >>file is present or on a pipe if | cmd is present),
     separated by the current output field separator, and terminated by the
     output record separator.  file and cmd may be literal names or
     parenthesized expressions; identical string values in different
     statements denote the same open file.  The printf statement formats its
     expression list according to the format (see printf(1)).

     Patterns are arbitrary Boolean combinations (with ! || &&) of regular
     expressions and relational expressions.  awk supports extended regular
     expressions (EREs).  See re_format(7) for more information on regular
     expressions.  Isolated regular expressions in a pattern apply to the
     entire line.  Regular expressions may also occur in relational
     expressions, using the operators ~ and !~.	 /re/ is a constant regular
     expression; any string (constant or variable) may be used as a regular
     expression, except in the position of an isolated regular expression in a
     pattern.

     A pattern may consist of two patterns separated by a comma; in this case,
     the action is performed for all lines from an occurrence of the first
     pattern through an occurrence of the second.

     A relational expression is one of the following:

	   expression matchop regular-expression
	   expression relop expression
	   expression in array-name
	   (expr, expr, ...) in array-name

     where a relop is any of the six relational operators in C, and a matchop
     is either ~ (matches) or !~ (does not match).  A conditional is an
     arithmetic expression, a relational expression, or a Boolean combination
     of these.

     The special patterns BEGIN and END may be used to capture control before
     the first input line is read and after the last.  BEGIN and END do not
     combine with other patterns.

     Variable names with special meanings:

     ARGC	Argument count, assignable.
     ARGV	Argument array, assignable; non-null members are taken as
		filenames.
     CONVFMT	Conversion format when converting numbers (default "%.6g").
     ENVIRON	Array of environment variables; subscripts are names.
     FILENAME	The name of the current input file.
     FNR	Ordinal number of the current record in the current file.
     FS		Regular expression used to separate fields; also settable by
		option -F fs.
     NF		Number of fields in the current record.	 $NF can be used to
		obtain the value of the last field in the current record.
     NR		Ordinal number of the current record.
     OFMT	Output format for numbers (default "%.6g").
     OFS	Output field separator (default blank).
     ORS	Output record separator (default newline).
     RLENGTH	The length of the string matched by the match() function.
     RS		Input record separator (default newline).
     RSTART	The starting position of the string matched by the match()
		function.
     SUBSEP	Separates multiple subscripts (default 034).

FUNCTIONS
     The awk language has a variety of built-in functions: arithmetic, string,
     input/output, general, and bit-operation.

     Functions may be defined (at the position of a pattern-action statement)
     thusly:

	   function foo(a, b, c) { ...; return x }

     Parameters are passed by value if scalar, and by reference if array name;
     functions may be called recursively.  Parameters are local to the
     function; all other variables are global.	Thus local variables may be
     created by providing excess parameters in the function definition.

   Arithmetic Functions
     atan2(y, x)  Return the arctangent of y/x in radians.

     cos(x)	  Return the cosine of x, where x is in radians.

     exp(x)	  Return the exponential of x.

     int(x)	  Return x truncated to an integer value.

     log(x)	  Return the natural logarithm of x.

     rand()	  Return a random number, n, such that 0<=n<1.

     sin(x)	  Return the sine of x, where x is in radians.

     sqrt(x)	  Return the square root of x.

     srand(expr)  Sets seed for rand() to expr and returns the previous seed.
		  If expr is omitted, the time of day is used instead.

   String Functions
     gsub(r, t, s)    The same as sub() except that all occurrences of the
		      regular expression are replaced.	gsub() returns the
		      number of replacements.

     index(s, t)      The position in s where the string t occurs, or 0 if it
		      does not.

     length(s)	      The length of s taken as a string, or of $0 if no
		      argument is given.

     match(s, r)      The position in s where the regular expression r occurs,
		      or 0 if it does not.  The variable RSTART is set to the
		      starting position of the matched string (which is the
		      same as the returned value) or zero if no match is
		      found.  The variable RLENGTH is set to the length of the
		      matched string, or -1 if no match is found.

     split(s, a, fs)  Splits the string s into array elements a[1], a[2], ...,
		      a[n] and returns n.  The separation is done with the
		      regular expression fs or with the field separator FS if
		      fs is not given.	An empty string as field separator
		      splits the string into one array element per character.

     sprintf(fmt, expr, ...)
		      The string resulting from formatting expr, ... according
		      to the printf(1) format fmt.

     sub(r, t, s)     Substitutes t for the first occurrence of the regular
		      expression r in the string s.  If s is not given, $0 is
		      used.  An ampersand (`&') in t is replaced in string s
		      with regular expression r.  A literal ampersand can be
		      specified by preceding it with two backslashes (`\\').
		      A literal backslash can be specified by preceding it
		      with another backslash (`\\').  sub() returns the number
		      of replacements.

     substr(s, m, n)  Return at most the n-character substring of s that
		      begins at position m counted from 1.  If n is omitted,
		      or if n specifies more characters than are left in the
		      string, the length of the substring is limited by the
		      length of s.

     tolower(str)     Returns a copy of str with all upper-case characters
		      translated to their corresponding lower-case
		      equivalents.

     toupper(str)     Returns a copy of str with all lower-case characters
		      translated to their corresponding upper-case
		      equivalents.

   Input/Output and General Functions
     close(expr)	   Closes the file or pipe expr.  expr should match
			   the string that was used to open the file or pipe.

     cmd | getline [var]   Read a record of input from a stream piped from the
			   output of cmd.  If var is omitted, the variables $0
			   and NF are set.  Otherwise var is set.  If the
			   stream is not open, it is opened.  As long as the
			   stream remains open, subsequent calls will read
			   subsequent records from the stream.	The stream
			   remains open until explicitly closed with a call to
			   close().  getline returns 1 for a successful input,
			   0 for end of file, and -1 for an error.

     fflush([expr])	   Flushes any buffered output for the file, pipe
			   expr, or all open files or pipes if expr is
			   omitted.  expr should match the string that was
			   used to open the file or pipe.

     getline		   Sets $0 to the next input record from the current
			   input file.	This form of getline sets the
			   variables NF, NR, and FNR.  getline returns 1 for a
			   successful input, 0 for end of file, and -1 for an
			   error.

     getline var	   Sets $0 to variable var.  This form of getline sets
			   the variables NR and FNR.  getline returns 1 for a
			   successful input, 0 for end of file, and -1 for an
			   error.

     getline [var]  <file  Sets $0 to the next record from file.  If var is
			   omitted, the variables $0 and NF are set.
			   Otherwise var is set.  If file is not open, it is
			   opened.  As long as the stream remains open,
			   subsequent calls will read subsequent records from
			   file.  file remains open until explicitly closed
			   with a call to close().

     system(cmd)	   Executes cmd and returns its exit status.

   Bit-Operation Functions
     compl(x)	   Returns the bitwise complement of integer argument x.

     and(x, y)	   Performs a bitwise AND on integer arguments x and y.

     or(x, y)	   Performs a bitwise OR on integer arguments x and y.

     xor(x, y)	   Performs a bitwise Exclusive-OR on integer arguments x and
		   y.

     lshift(x, n)  Returns x shifted by n bits to the left.

     rshift(x, n)  Returns y shifted by n bits to the right.

EXIT STATUS
     The awk utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

     But note that the exit expression can modify the exit status.

EXAMPLES
     Print lines longer than 72 characters:

	   length($0) > 72

     Print first two fields in opposite order:

	   { print $2, $1 }

     Same, with input fields separated by comma and/or blanks and tabs:

	   BEGIN { FS = ",[ \t]*|[ \t]+" }
		 { print $2, $1 }

     Add up first column, print sum and average:

	   { s += $1 }
	   END { print "sum is", s, " average is", s/NR }

     Print all lines between start/stop pairs:

	   /start/, /stop/

     Simulate echo(1):

	   BEGIN { # Simulate echo(1)
		   for (i = 1; i < ARGC; i++) printf "%s ", ARGV[i]
		   printf "\n"
		   exit }

     Print an error message to standard error:

	   { print "error!" > "/dev/stderr" }

SEE ALSO
     lex(1), printf(1), sed(1), re_format(7), script(7)

     A. V. Aho, B. W. Kernighan, and P. J. Weinberger, The AWK Programming
     Language, Addison-Wesley, 1988, ISBN 0-201-07981-X.

STANDARDS
     The awk utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (``POSIX'')
     specification.

     The flags [-dV] and [-safe], as well as the commands fflush, compl, and,
     or, xor, lshift, rshift, are extensions to that specification.

     awk does not support {n,m} pattern matching.

HISTORY
     An awk utility appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.

BUGS
     There are no explicit conversions between numbers and strings.  To force
     an expression to be treated as a number add 0 to it; to force it to be
     treated as a string concatenate "" to it.

     The scope rules for variables in functions are a botch; the syntax is
     worse.

OpenBSD 4.9		       February 7, 2011			   OpenBSD 4.9
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