This chapter covers the features of GNU AWK (GAWK) that are not available in primitive AWK. These features are not connected to each other, but are quite useful when used in the appropriate scenarios. Features such as reading non-decimal input, arbitrary precision arithmetic, array sorting, and some advance features such as network communication, debugging, and inter-process communication, are explained in this chapter using simple example programs. Some of these features are quite advanced, in the sense that their explanation requires a separate chapter devoted to them. However, we will discuss the main details of these features, so that we are able to use them when the situation arises. These features enhance the power of AWK and make it more productive.
In this chapter, we will cover the following :
- Reading non-decimal...