Re: [gawk] Please Help

[Stepan Kasal]

Hello,

> I am a beginner pc/programmer that would like to use GAWK, but can't
> seem to get started.   I installed GAWK (or I think I did) on my pc.
> I'm running Windows XP Pro.  Under Programs, I see GunWin32 and .pdf &
> .html files.  What's next?

read the manual.  If you prefer printed form, find a copy of "Effective
AWK programming" by A. Robbins.

If you want to read the manual electronically, then the "Documentation"
zip of gawk on gnuwin32.sf.net contains the manual in various formats.
Not only gawk.pdf and gawk.html, but also gawk.hlp and gawk.chp, which
should be Windows Help files.

The most usual situation is to run gawk from unix style shell.
If the documentation doesn't mention it, you have to be careful, as
Windows command line is a bit different.

One way is to install the cygwin environment from www.cygwin.com;
it includes both "bash" (a unix-style shell) and gawk.
If you open "bash" then, you'll have a command line which behaves
very similarily to unix-style command line.

Another way is to avoid thinks like this:
        gawk '/foo/{print $0}'
and always place the program to a file:

/foo/{print $0}

and then run
        gawk -f prog.awk
where prog.awk is the file with the awk script.  (You'll find an
explanation of "-f" in the docs.)

HTH,
        Stepan