Re: Problems with functions and the single quote in gawk

[Aharon Robbins]

Greetings.  Re this:

> From: Scollan, David 
> Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 4:24 PM
> To:   'address@hidden'
> Subject:      address@hidden
> 
> # Try to print the contents of a file using a gawk function
> # This does not work. You need to put the code in an awk script and use
> nawk -f awk_script < $FILE
> # WHY?
> 
> FILE=$1
> gawk '{
>         function func1( param1 ){
>                 print param1
>                 return
>         }
>         func1( $0 )
> }' $FILE     

You have the syntax wrong.  The function should be defined outside the
braces.  Then call the function inside the braces:

        FILE=$1
        gawk ' function func1( param1 ){
                        print param1
                        return
                }

                { func1( $0 ) }' $FILE     


> Also, you can't put a ' in a comment but you can if you use gawk -f
> awk_script < $FILE as above  ie
> This script will fail WHY?
> gawk '{
>       print $0                # The single quote isn't allowed in this
> comment
> }' $FILE  

This is because of the shell's quoting rules.  The shell does not
do any processing of text inside single quotes.  As soon as it sees
the first single quote, it collects text up to the next one.

I hope this helps.

Arnold
--
Aharon (Arnold) Robbins --- Pioneer Consulting Ltd.     address@hidden
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