when I want to save a perl file or a bash file, i start it with #!/bin/bash or #!/usr/bin/perl

However for the most part when i want to user awk i just more the file i want process into a pipe and after the pipe type "awk '{print $1}'

is there a way to invoke awk like perl and bash.

can i start my awk script with #!/usr/bin/awk ?

because from what i can see on the net, you just save the file as a plain text file and then invoke it as
awk -f <awkfileisaved> <fileIwanttoprocess>

I saw one example script where they invoked awk via

#!/bin/bash

awk '

Have a look at
http://www.grymoire.com/Unix/Awk.html#uh-30



Cheers,
Tink

1 members found this post helpful.

thanks tink - this is the best overview of awk i have seen, and it answers just what i was looking for

And, since Tink just pointed to a (nice) manual, the general secret is #!/bin/awk {options} -f

If you're using gawk, not POSIX AWK, you might find the bash script /usr/bin/igawk of interest. As described in the info gawk file, it implements useful @<file_name> function for including awk function in your code.

Coincidentally that's exactly what I pointed him at in Grymoire's tutorial. :}



Cheers,
Tink

Sorry - accidental post