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Subject: Re: using AWK
From: Ben Cottrell <tamino@wolfhut.org>
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To: Jack Mc Lauren <jack.mclauren@yahoo.com>
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On Dec 17, 2012, at 04:22, Jack Mc Lauren <jack.mclauren@yahoo.com> wrote:
> This is what i wrote:

OK -- I'm adjusting my assumptions about what you're trying to do. :-)
Bear with me:

> #! /bin/sh
> 
> filename=$0

So (a) there's only one input file, not multiple... and (b) it should
come from the command line of the shell script wrapper. Right?

> awk 'getline no < filename; print no'

If there's only one input file, then this is super easy and you
don't even need any of the getline or close stuff. Try:

filename=$1
awk '{no = $0; print no;}' $filename

In the shell script context (outside the awk), $1 refers to the first
command line parameter of the script. You don't want $0 there.

On the other hand, *inside* the awk part, dollar-sign variables have
a completely different meaning. $0 in *awk* (not sh) means "the entire
contents of each line of the input file". So if your file had multiple
lines, that block would run multiple times. But since I'm guessing your
file only has one line (that being the number in question), the awk
block will only run once.

	~Ben