Re: [bug-gawk] abort keyword

[Neil R. Ormos]

address@hidden wrote:

> Changed the subject line.

> "Neil R. Ormos" <address@hidden> wrote:

>> But for shorter programs written for an ephemeral
>> need, an abort statement that does not require the
>> inclusion of library functions or additional -f
>> arguments, and a specific test in the END rule,
>> would save a lot of extra typing and design
>> attention.  I write a lot of such one-off
>> programs, often on the command-line.

> I think a workable solution is a shell script
> that invokes gawk with the options and
> arguments previded, but that preloads useful
> things like abort, assert, etc.

That's a fine solution for situations where the
user is in a position to fully customize the
environment.

It's not optimal for some other use cases.
Examples include systems being built, where the
operating environment has not yet been customized;
recovery environments where the user's home
directory is broken or unavailable; and other
situations where the customization might interfere
with other uses of Gawk or simply confuse others.

When I don't need to rely on Gawk's exit status,
I've been using divide-by-zero as an expedient
abort.  Having an abort keyword that, like exit,
allows the return code to be explicitly set, would
be better.