To run a given program, you would typically do something like this:
awk -f program -- options files
Here, program is the name of the awk program (such as
cut.awk), options are any command-line options for the
program that start with a ‘-’, and files are the actual data files.
If your system supports the ‘#!’ executable interpreter mechanism
(see Executable awk Programs),
you can instead run your program directly:
cut.awk -c1-8 myfiles > results
If your awk is not gawk, you may instead need to use this:
cut.awk -- -c1-8 myfiles > results