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awk: a programmable filter

The awk command is a programming-language interpreter for the awk string-processing language.

Invocation: 

awk 'AwkProgram' < DataFile
awk -f AwkProgramFile < DataFile

The awk language:

  • has a C-like syntax
  • understands columnated input
  • has regular expressions for selecting input line to process
  • etc. etc. etc.