The GAWK Manual

This file documents awk, a program that you can use to select particular records in a file and perform operations upon them.

This is Edition 0.15 of The GAWK Manual,
for the 2.15 version of the GNU implementation
of AWK.

• Preface What you can do with awk; brief history and acknowledgements.
• Copying Your right to copy and distribute gawk.
• This Manual Using this manual. Includes sample input files that you can use.
• Getting Started A basic introduction to using awk. How to run an awk program. Command line syntax.
• Reading Files How to read files and manipulate fields.
• Printing How to print using awk. Describes the print and printf statements. Also describes redirection of output.
• One-liners Short, sample awk programs.
• Patterns The various types of patterns explained in detail.
• Actions The various types of actions are introduced here. Describes expressions and the various operators in detail. Also describes comparison expressions.
• Expressions Expressions are the basic building blocks of statements.
• Statements The various control statements are described in detail.
• Arrays The description and use of arrays. Also includes array-oriented control statements.
• Built-in The built-in functions are summarized here.
• User-defined User-defined functions are described in detail.
• Built-in Variables Built-in Variables
• Command Line How to run gawk.
• Language History The evolution of the awk language.
• Installation Installing gawk under various operating systems.
• Gawk Summary gawk Options and Language Summary.
• Sample Program A sample awk program with a complete explanation.
• Bugs Reporting Problems and Bugs.
• Notes Something about the implementation of gawk.
• Glossary An explanation of some unfamiliar terms.
• Index