WA1194 AWK Programming Course Outline
1. Getting Started with awk
  • How to Run awk Programs
  • Datafiles for the Examples
  • Some Simple Examples
  • An Example with Two Rules
  • A More Complex Example
  • awk Statements Versus Lines
  • Other Features of awk
  • When to Use awk
2. Regular Expressions
  • How to Use Regular Expressions
  • Escape Sequences
  • Regular Expression Operators
  • Using Character Lists
  • gawk-Specific Regexp Operators
  • Case Sensitivity in Matching
  • How Much Text Matches?
  • Using Dynamic Regexps
3. Reading Input Files
  • How Input Is Split into Records
  • Examining Fields
  • Non-constant Field Numbers
  • Changing the Contents of a Field
  • Specifying How Fields Are Separated
  • Reading Fixed-Width Data
  • Multiple-Line Records
  • Explicit Input with getline
4. Printing Output
  • The print Statement
  • Examples of print Statements
  • Output Separators
  • Controlling Numeric Output with print
  • Using printf Statements for Fancier Printing
  • Redirecting Output of print and printf
  • Special Filenames in gawk
  • Closing Input and Output Redirections
5. Expressions
  • Constant Expressions
  • Using Regular Expression Constants
  • Variables
  • Conversion of Strings and Numbers
  • Arithmetic Operators
  • String Concatenation
  • Assignment Expressions
  • Increment and Decrement Operators
  • True and False in awk
  • Variable Typing and Comparison Expressions
  • Boolean Expressions
  • Conditional Expressions
  • Function Calls
  • Operator Precedence (How Operators\ Nest)
6. Patterns, Actions, and Variables
  • Pattern Elements
  • Using Shell Variables in Programs
  • Actions
  • Control Statements in Actions
  • Built-in Variables
7. Arrays in awk
  • Introduction to Arrays
  • Referring to an Array Element
  • Assigning Array Elements
  • Basic Array Example
  • Scanning All Elements of an Array
  • The delete Statement
  • Using Numbers to Subscript Arrays
  • Using Uninitialized Variables as Subscripts
  • Multidimensional Arrays
  • Scanning Multidimensional Arrays
  • Sorting Array Values and Indices with gawk
8. Functions
  • Built-in Functions
  • User-Defined Functions
9. Internationalization with gawk
  • Internationalization and Localization
  • GNU gettext
  • Internationalizing awk Programs
  • Translating awk Programs
  • A Simple Internationalization Example
  • gawk Can Speak Your Language
10. Advanced Features of gawk
  • Allowing Nondecimal Input Data
  • Two-Way Communications with\ Another\ Process
  • Using gawk for Network Programming
  • Using gawk with BSD Portals
  • Profiling Your awk Programs
11. Running awk and gawk
  • Invoking awk
  • Command-Line Options
  • Other Command-Line Arguments
  • The AWKPATH Environment Variable
  • Obsolete Options and/or Features
  • Known Bugs in gawk
12. A Library of awk Functions
  • Naming Library Function Global\ Variables
  • General Programming
  • Datafile Management
  • Processing Command-Line Options
  • Reading the User Database
  • Reading the Group Database
13. Practical awk Programs
  • Running the Example Programs
  • Reinventing Wheels for Fun and Profit
  • A Grab Bag of awk Programs
14. Internetworking with gawk
  • Networking with gawk
  • Some Applications and Techniques
  • Related Links