Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!akgua!gatech!seismo!brl-adm!brl-smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@brl-smoke.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.bugs
Subject: Re: awk bug (or is it a feature)
Message-ID: <154@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 20-Apr-86 20:40:01 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-smok.154
Posted: Sun Apr 20 20:40:01 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 24-Apr-86 06:16:00 EST
References: <800@brahma.cs.hw.AC.UK>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.ARPA
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL)
Lines: 10

In article <800@brahma.cs.hw.AC.UK> pjbk@cs.hw.ac.uk (Peter King) writes:
>The file below will pass the standard input through unmodified,
>although it is designed to replace the last field in each record
>with "LAST FIELD".  Is this a bug or a feature?
> { $NF = "LAST FIELD"
> print}

Must be a bug; it works here (SVR2 + bug fixes).
Make sure the shell does not mess with the special characters
(enclose the whole expression in 'quotes').