awk

awk [options ] [program ] [var = value ...] [files ]

Use the pattern-matching program to process the specified files . awk has been replaced by nawk (there's also a GNU version called gawk ). program instructions have the general form:

pattern
 { procedure
 }

pattern and procedure are optional. When specified on the command line, program must be enclosed in single quotes to prevent the shell from interpreting its special symbols. Any variables specified in program can be assigned an initial value by using command-line arguments of the form var = value . See Chapter 11, The awk Programming Language , for more information (including examples) on awk .

Options

-f  file

Use program instructions contained in file , instead of specifying program on the command line.

-F c

Treat input file as fields separated by character c . By default, input fields are separated by runs of spaces and/or tabs.