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How to Run awk Programs

There are several ways to run an awk program. If the program is short, it is easiest to include it in the command that runs awk, like this:

awk 'program' input-file1 input-file2 ...

When the program is long, it is usually more convenient to put it in a file and run it with a command like this:

awk -f program-file input-file1 input-file2 ...

This section discusses both mechanisms, along with several variations of each.

• One-shot: Running a short throwaway awk program.
• Read Terminal: Using no input files (input from terminal instead).
• Long: Putting permanent awk programs in files.
• Executable Scripts: Making self-contained awk programs.
• Comments: Adding documentation to gawk programs.
• Quoting: More discussion of shell quoting issues.