jwp@chem.ucsd.edu (John Pierce) (04/03/89)
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
arnold@mathcs.emory.edu (Arnold D. Robbins {EUCC}) (04/04/89)
In article <431@chem.ucsd.EDU> jwp@chem.ucsd.edu (John Pierce) writes: >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. All true. If you don't want to spend any money, you can get GNU AWK from the Free Software Foundation. A new release is due shortly. The current version, gawk2.02beta, is (modulo some bugs) compatible with the version in the book. The next release will fix almost all the bugs, add some additional features not in Unix awk, notably improve performance, and include a > 100 page texinfo manual on AWK. Watch gnu.announce; I'll put a note there when the newest version is available for ftp from prep.ai.mit.edu. -- Unix is a Registered | Arnold Robbins -- Emory University Computing Center Bell of AT&T Trademark | DOMAIN: arnold@unix.cc.emory.edu Laboratories. | UUCP: gatech!emory!arnold PHONE: +1 404 727-7636 -- Donn Seeley | BITNET: arnold@emoryu1 FAX: +1 404 727-2599