using the getline to populate an array from a file

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hello,

I am trying to use the awk getline command to populate an array from a flat file.

Has anyone done this before?

So we have file1:

a
b
c
d

I want to create an array like index[x] that contains these four elements

2

Why use awk? I can't test it right now but wouldn't :

set -A index $(cat yourfile)

do the trick or do you want to load yourfile while inside an awk program ?

3

I wouldn't bother with getline...

$ cat > awk_script
#!/usr/bin/awk -f
{
  a[i++]=$0
}
END {
  for ( x = 0; x < NR; x++  ) {
    print "Element is..." , a[x]
  }
}
$ chmod +x ./awk_script
$ ./awk_script ./file1
Element is... a
Element is... b
Element is... c
Element is... d

Cheers
ZB

4

when executing this is get: i++: bad number

5

I need to load the file whilst inside the awk program

6

if on Solaris, try using nawk like so:

#!/usr/bin/nawk -f
7

i'm running on AIX, i've tried so many variations but can't get to the bottom of this , any help appriciated

8

moved to a new thread

9

Instead of


a[i++]=$0
try:
a[NR]=$0