Hello, I'm trying to figure out if i'm understanding this awk script correctly.

I have:
SS = 6 {
while(getLine line<"/etc/username") {
}
}
{
print $0
}

The SS=6 is a user defined variable and the pattern block
The while(x) is a user defined function
The bottom portion of the script with the print $0 does NOT have a pattern, or also known as empty/null pattern
The $0 at the end is also a script

is this correct?

no, that is not correct. Would be nice to see the whole script, not only parts.
the meaning of this depends on the location of it. It can be a simple assignment (set the variable SS to 6), or a mistyped check (if SS was equal to 6) - but that should be written with two =. In that case
may mean (similar to patterns) to execute the block { whatever } only if condition was met (so SS is equal to 6).
while is a keyword, and it is not a user defined function. getline is a built-in function.
is a line of code, means print the actual line ($0 is not a script, but the current line - which is actually processed by this awk script).

You ought to read some documentation about this, it is very well explained.
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...9/#post5791504

1 members found this post helpful.

I would suggest reading the manual as at present you do not understand awk at all.

1 members found this post helpful.

I think you should give us the whole script. And learn the fundamentals if you want to go a long way, diving into it is good but as things get complex it will be very hard if you don't know the basic.

1 members found this post helpful.

Oh, thanks for the reply! For some reason I didn't get any alerts through email for the replies on this post.
There is no other code that comes with this, I have only this snippet and need to understand what is what.

I have taken the time to learn some more fundamentals, thanks for the replies!