Re: Is it appropriate to ask user-oriented questions on this list?

[cga2000]

On Sun, Dec 02, 2007 at 11:59:29AM EST, Bob Proulx wrote:
> cga2000 wrote:
> > I'm having trouble getting awk parsing to work when fields are
> > separated by two different characters (space and colon).
> 
> You may have to split into fields and then trim each field for
> whitespace.
> 
> > First off I was wondering whether this is the correct place to ask.
> 
> After I convince you to install GNU awk there won't be any question. :-)
> 
> > Also, I am running this on debian linux and the implementation of awk
> > that was installed by default is called "mawk".
> 
> This has been an often debated topic.  Let's not open it here.  But do
> please try GNU awk.  Also installing 'gawk-doc' from the non-free
> depot is also highly recommended.
> 
>   sudo apt-get install gawk

Done (gawk/gawk-doc)

> As far as your awk question is concerned, can you post a small example
> that illustrates the issue?  Something like the following would be
> great.  Then we could all follow along.
> 
>   echo "one: two :three:four" | awk -F: '{print$2}'

I guess I'll follow Paul's recommendation below.