Awk Functions

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi all.
I have a simple shell script shown below which calls an awk function and then print valid or invalid depending on the return value:

#!/bin/sh

cat file.CSV| nawk -f validate '
BEGIN { FS=","; counter=0}

{
        FS=",";
        gsub("\"","")
        valid=validate($1);
        if (valid == 1)
                print "INVALID";
        else
                print "VALID"
        
}

When i run this script I get no output at all. The script runs but nothing seems to happen. However when i include the function, shown below, in the script it runs as expected.

function validate(object)
{
        #populates an array List 
        if(object in stationList){
                return 0;}
        else{
                return 1;}
}

I dont want to have to include the functions code in every script I write and I was under the impression that using -f validate when starting nawk would let me then call the function from within my script.
Any ideas or help with this would be appreciated.

Thanks

2

Your main awk script must be in a file.

nawk -f  validate.awk -f main.awk file.CSV

validate.awk :

function validate(object)
{
        #populates an array List 
        if(object in stationList){
                return 0;}
        else{
                return 1;}
}

main.awk :

BEGIN { FS=","; counter=0}

{
        FS=",";
        gsub("\"","")
        valid=validate($1);
        if (valid == 1)
                print "INVALID";
        else
                print "VALID"
        
}

Jean-Pierre.

3

Thanks for your reply.

Does this mean it is not possible to call my function from inside a shell script?
I had hoped I could call it in an awk section of a shell script?