Text and processing

The awk command

Processes text by columns and lets you filter and compute in one line.

Syntax

awk [-F sep] '{print $N}'Try it in the terminal →

Most useful options

-FSets the field separator
$1..$NEach column
NRLine number

Copy-ready examples

$ awk '{print $1}' Documentos/tareas.txtThe first column
$ awk -F : '{print $1}' /etc/passwdWith a colon separator
$ awk '{print NR": "$0}' Documentos/tareas.txtNumber lines

You can try them in the browser terminal: it does not touch your computer.

Typical mistakes

  • By default it splits on whitespace, not commas.

Related commands

cutsedsort

FAQ

Can awk add things up?

Yes: you can compute with the columns, e.g. sum field 3.

More Text and processing commands

uniqtrprintfteexargsdiffjqseqSee the category →

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