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Hi, I am trying to create an awk script that reads input...

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Question by JAMDEE
Submitted on 8/18/2003
Related FAQ: comp.lang.awk FAQ
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Hi,

I am trying to create an awk script that reads input from a file and then execute another script on the $1 of the input file until all items in the file have been processed.

I tried different ways, but here is the latest I've tried. Please help...

on Solaris 8

awk '{
(( getline tape < "coz" ) > 0)
cd directory
./runtape -e $tape
}'

This isn't working and I don't know what else to do.  


Answer by obrienpx
Submitted on 8/19/2003
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Try printing your commands & then piping the output to the shell.  The following reads each line of input_file & pipes an ls -al to the shell.

awk '/^/ { print "ls -al " $0 } ' inpfil | sh

Another way would be to use the system operator:

awk '/^/ { system ("ls -al " $0) } ' inpfil

 

Answer by jamdee
Submitted on 8/19/2003
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Hi and Thanks for your response...Because I'm just a beginner..I'm only using any awk guides from the net. I really don't have any knowledge using awk other than that. I just started trying all of a sudden because I heard it was a good scripting and file manipulating language. Anywho...

Question in response to your answer...
With respect, how does that apply to what I'm actually trying to do because I don't exactly understand in that one line it could do what I'm hoping to accomplish? I guess I need a lil more breakdown maybe..

 

Answer by obrienpx
Submitted on 8/20/2003
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Awk is a very useful tool but it can be tricky to pick up.  Anyway I have tried to put together a fairly detailed example in your terms, guessing at the sort of things you were trying to do:

File coz looks like:
233765
303t01.lst
dd.lst

In directory DIRECTORY, file runtape looks like:
ls $1 $2

Running the following from the directory holding coz:

awk '/^/ { print "cd DIRECTORY; ./runtape -alt " $0 "; cd -" }' coz

produces output:
cd DIRECTORY; ./runtape -alt 233765; cd -
cd DIRECTORY; ./runtape -alt 303t01.lst; cd -
cd DIRECTORY; ./runtape -alt dd.lst; cd -

Piping this output to the shell, like so:

awk '/^/ { print "cd DIRECTORY; ./runtape -alt " $0 "; cd -" }' coz | sh

produces
233765 not found
-rw-r--r--   1 xxxxxx    xxx           6399 Aug 21 09:34 303t01.lst
-rw-r--r--   1 xxxxxx    xxx          43860 Aug 21 09:34 dd.lst

Where file 233765 is not in DIRECTORY but the others are.

The awk command works by reading every line from file coz, and for every line that matches the regular expression  /^/ (i.e. every line), print “cd DIRECT...”

The second approach using the system operator looks like:
awk '/^/ { system ("cd DIRECTORY; ./runtape -alt " $0 "; cd -") } ' coz

 

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