Bash 5 reference · Text and System Tools

awk (Linux command)

Process text by fields: print and filter columns, compute sums and group totals, with a small built-in language.

Bash 5

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Syntax

awk [-F SEP] [-v VAR=VAL] 'PATTERN { ACTION } END { ... }' [FILE...]

Parameter	Description
`$1, $NF, $0`	First field, last field, whole line.
`-F,`	Field separator.
`NR / NF`	Line number / number of fields.
`END { }`	Runs after the last line.

Filter by a column

printf 'ana DE 12\nben US 3\nchen DE 7\n' | awk '$3 > 5 { print $1 }'

Output

ana
chen

Run this on your computer — see “Get Started” for setup.

Group and sum

printf 'north 120\nsouth 80\nnorth 40\n' | awk '{ t[$1] += $2 } END { for (r in t) print r, t[r] }' | sort

Output

north 160
south 80

Run this on your computer — see “Get Started” for setup.

cut · Extract columns from each line by delimiter and field number, or by character positions.
sort · Sort lines alphabetically, numerically, in reverse, by a key column, or with human-readable sizes; -u removes duplicates.
Bash awk: Process Columns · tutorial