AWK

Appeared in:
1977
Influenced by:
Paradigm:
Typing discipline:
File extensions:
.awk
Versions and implementations (Collapse all | Expand all):
Programming language

AWK (name derived from surnames of authors) is an interpreted scripting programming language designed for processing text data.

AWK program takes a stream of text data (from file or console) as input and processes it row by row. The program is a series of pattern-action rules, written as pattern {action}. A pattern is an expression, and action is a series of commands. When input stream is processed, each line of data is matched against each pattern of the program, and the actions of matching patterns are excuted. Two special patterns BEGIN and END make the corresponding actions to be executed before and after processing the input, respectively.

Main data type in AWK is string, though numbers can be processed as well. Main data structure is an associative array. AWK is known for massive suport of regular expressions.

Elements of syntax:

Inline comments #
Case-sensitivity yes
Variable identifier regexp [_a-zA-Z][_a-zA-Z0-9]*
Variable assignment varname = value
Variable declaration none
Variable declaration with assignment none
Grouping expressions ( ... )
Block { ... }
Physical (shallow) equality a == b
Physical (shallow) inequality a != b
Deep equality a == b
Deep inequality a != b
Comparison < > <= >=
Function definition function functionName(argname1, ..., argnameN)
Function call functionName(arg1, ..., argN)
If - then if (condition) trueBlock
For each value in a numeric range, 1 increment for (i = first; i <= last; i++) loopBody
For each value in a numeric range, 1 decrement for (i = last; i >= first; i--) loopBody

Examples:

Hello, World!:

Example for versions gawk 3.1.6, mawk 1.3.3

The printing is done with BEGIN pattern, i.e., before processing the input. 

BEGIN { print "Hello, World!" }

Factorial:

Example for versions gawk 3.1.6, mawk 1.3.3

This example uses iterative factorial definition. Individual statements within code block can be separated with semicolons (;) or new lines. 

BEGIN {
    f = 1
    print "0! = " f
    for (i=1; i<17; i++) {
        f *= i
        print i "! = " f
    }
}

Fibonacci numbers:

Example for versions gawk 3.1.6, mawk 1.3.3

This example uses iterative definition of Fibonacci numbers. fib is an associative array, and pr is a string. 

BEGIN {
    fib[1] = 1
    fib[2] = 1
    for (i=3; i<17; i++)
        fib[i] = fib[i-1]+fib[i-2]
    pr = ""
    for (i=1; i<17; i++)
        pr = pr fib[i] ", "
    print pr "..." 
}