Question in awk

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Dear All,

How can we sort using awk?Is there anything by default

Please help me.

Regards,
Sukumar

2

Not sure about any function for sort in awk, but you can use the sort command within awk.

e.g.

head /etc/passwd | awk -F":" '{ print | "sort"}'

You don't need awk for this

head /etc/passwd | sort -t ":" -k1

would do

3

Hi vish_indian,

Thanks.But can we specify the field numbers to sort inside the awk like what we have specified in basic sort command.

Regards,
Sukumar.

4

You mean something like this:

awk 'NR<10{ print | "sort -t: -k3"}' /etc/passwd

or

awk 'NR<10{ print | "sort -t: -k3 -r"}' /etc/passwd

Its just calling the sort command inside awk, so all the options of sort should work

5

Hi vish_indian,

Many Thanks,for clearing my doubt.

Regards,
Sukumar.