Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!purdue!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hpl-opus!steinbac
From: steinbac@hpl-opus.HP.COM (Gunter Steinbach)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: variables in awk
Message-ID: <63720003@hpl-opus.HP.COM>
Date: 27 Apr 89 19:06:50 GMT
References: <10029@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Organization: HP Labs, High Speed Electronics Dept., Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 18


    I didn't look up any book passages, but I quickly tried the following
    in K-shell:

    nawk '{a="x"; if($1 ~ a) print "match"}'
    asd
    xyz
    asx

    And sure enough, the last two input lines produced a "match" output.  So
    no problemo!

    However, I also tried the above with the "old" awk, and it produces a
    "syntax error near line line".  So you need the AT&T toolbox "nawk".  

    Hope this helps you  --  Gunter Steinbach
			     Hewlett-Packard Labs
			     gunter@hpl-opus