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Patterns, Actions, and Variables

As you have already seen, each awk statement consists of a pattern with an associated action. This chapter describes how you build patterns and actions, what kinds of things you can do within actions, and awk's built-in variables.

The pattern-action rules and the statements available for use within actions form the core of awk programming. In a sense, everything covered up to here has been the foundation that programs are built on top of. Now it's time to start building something useful.

• Pattern Overview: What goes into a pattern.
• Using Shell Variables: How to use shell variables with awk.
• Action Overview: What goes into an action.
• Statements: Describes the various control statements in detail.
• Built-in Variables: Summarizes the built-in variables.