1.1 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 Throwaway awk Programs
• Running awk Without Input Files
• Running Long Programs
• Executable awk Programs
• Comments in awk Programs
• Shell Quoting Issues