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From: jwp@chem.ucsd.edu (John Pierce)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Obsolete awk document
Message-ID: <431@chem.ucsd.EDU>
Date: 2 Apr 89 22:38:52 GMT
Reply-To: jwp@chem.ucsd.edu (John Pierce)
Organization: Chemistry Dept, UC San Diego
Lines: 20

I've received several mail messages that indicate that there was a recent
reference in comp.unix.questions to a document I wrote four or five years
ago titled "A Supplemental Document For AWK".  It is gratifying that people
found that document useful, but it and the version of awk to which it applied
really shouldn't still be in use.  That document applies only to the version
of awk originally distributed with BSD.  While it is generally accurate in
its description of a few bugs and sketchily documented features in that
version, that is NOT the most recent version.

The current version is the one described in "The AWK Programming Language" by
Aho, Kernighan, and Weinberger (Addison-Wesley, 1988, ISBN 0-201-07981-X).  If
you don't have this version and the book, you should get them.  Source code
is available (I believe inexpensively) from both AT&T and Addison-Wesley; there
is a card in the back of the book for obtaining information on how to get it.
The original version was certainly a useful tool; this version is very much
superior to it.

-- 
   John Pierce	Chemistry, B-032, UCSD, La Jolla,  CA 92093
		jwp@chem.ucsd.edu  jpierce@ucsd  +1 619 534 0203