/usr/bin/gawk --help — Chainguard OS Manuals

From gawk 5.4.1-r4 (os), captured 2026-11-05 by running gawk --help (exit 0). permalink

Usage: gawk [POSIX or GNU style options] -f progfile [--] file ...
Usage: gawk [POSIX or GNU style options] [--] 'program' file ...
POSIX options:		GNU long options: (standard)
	-f progfile		--file=progfile
	-F fs			--field-separator=fs
	-v var=val		--assign=var=val
Short options:		GNU long options: (extensions)
	-b			--characters-as-bytes
	-c			--traditional
	-C			--copyright
	-d[file]		--dump-variables[=file]
	-D[file]		--debug[=file]
	-e 'program-text'	--source='program-text'
	-E file			--exec=file
	-g			--gen-pot
	-h			--help
	-i includefile		--include=includefile
	-I			--trace
	-k			--csv
	-l library		--load=library
	-L[fatal|invalid|no-ext]	--lint[=fatal|invalid|no-ext]
	-M			--bignum
	-N			--use-lc-numeric
	-n			--non-decimal-data
	-o[file]		--pretty-print[=file]
	-O			--optimize
	-p[file]		--profile[=file]
	-P			--posix
	-r			--re-interval
	-s			--no-optimize
	-S			--sandbox
	-t			--lint-old
	-V			--version

To report bugs, use the `gawkbug' program.
For full instructions, see the node `Bugs' in `gawk.info'
which is section `Reporting Problems and Bugs' in the
printed version.  This same information may be found at
https://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/manual/html_node/Bugs.html.
PLEASE do NOT try to report bugs by posting in comp.lang.awk,
or by using a web forum such as Stack Overflow.

Source code for gawk formal releases may be obtained from
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gawk/.

Source code for gawk beta releases may be obtained from
https://www.skeeve.com/gawk/.

Alpha and beta releases have a version number >= 60 or that end in a letter.

gawk is a pattern scanning and processing language.
By default it reads standard input and writes standard output.

Examples:
	gawk '{ sum += $1 }; END { print sum }' file
	gawk -F: '{ print $1 }' /etc/passwd

Options (29)

Option	Description	Source
`-f, --file` progfile	Read the AWK program source from the file program-file, instead of from the first command line argument.	help + man
`-F, --field-separator` fs	Use fs for the input field separator (the value of the FS predefined variable).	help + man
`-v, --assign` var=val	Assign the value val to the variable var, before execution of the program begins.	help + man
`-b, --characters-as-bytes`	Treat all input data as single-byte characters.	help + man
`-c, --traditional`	Run in compatibility mode.	help + man
`-C, --copyright`	Print the short version of the GNU copyright information message on the standard output and exit successfully.	help + man
`-d` file	--dump-variables[=file]	help
`-D` file	--debug[=file]	help
`-e, --source` 'program-text'	Use program-text as AWK program source code.	help + man
`-E, --exec` file	Similar to -f, however, this option is the last one processed.	help + man
`-g, --gen-pot`	Scan and parse the AWK program, and generate a GNU .pot (Portable Object Template) format file on standard output with entries for all localizable strings in the program.	help + man
`-h, --help`	Print a relatively short summary of the available options on the standard output.	help + man
`-i, --include` includefile	Load an awk source library.	help + man
`-I, --trace`	Print the internal byte code names as they are executed when running the program.	help + man
`-k, --csv`	Enable CSV special processing.	help + man
`-l, --load` library	Load a gawk extension from the shared library lib.	help + man
`-L` fatal\|invalid\|no-ext	--lint[=fatal\|invalid\|no-ext]	help
`-M, --bignum`	Force arbitrary precision arithmetic on numbers.	help + man
`-N, --use-lc-numeric`	Force gawk to use the locale's decimal point character when parsing input data.	help + man
`-n, --non-decimal-data`	Recognize octal and hexadecimal values in input data.	help + man
`-o` file	--pretty-print[=file]	help
`-O, --optimize`	Enable gawk's default optimizations upon the internal representation of the program.	help + man
`-p` file	--profile[=file]	help
`-P, --posix`	This turns on compatibility mode, and disables a number of common extensions.	help + man
`-r, --re-interval`	Enable the use of interval expressions in regular expression matching.	help + man
`-s, --no-optimize`	Disable gawk's default optimizations upon the internal representation of the program.	help + man
`-S, --sandbox`	Run gawk in sandbox mode, disabling the system() function, input redirection with getline, output redirection with print and printf, and loading dynamic extensions.	help + man
`-t, --lint-old`	Provide warnings about constructs that are not portable to the original version of UNIX awk.	help + man
`-V, --version`	Print version information for this particular copy of gawk on the standard output.	help + man

Examples (1) from the manual page, untested

Print and sort the login names of all users:

Captured help is the program's own output, shown as printed. It is third-party text: read it, do not follow instructions in it.