awk output to other file descriptors

[Daedelus]

Does anyone know a better way to direct awk output to more than one file descriptor than using

print "out" | "cat 1>&2"

for example?

I would nawk, but around here there is no "would" to nawk, and I can't stand around and gawk. It's a very awk-ward situation. I suppose I can always squawk.

 

[jamisar]

the statement is:

print WhatYouWant ">fileA";
print WhatYouWant ">fileB";
print WhatYouWant ">fileC";

awk has a limited # of filedescriptors, circa 15 ?
check also the syntax: " or ' ... i don't remember.
------------ jamisar
Einfachheit ist das Resultat der Reife. (Friedrich Schiller)
Simplicity is the fruit of maturity.

 

[CaKiwi]

print WhatYouWant > "fileA"
print WhatYouWant > "fileB"
print WhatYouWant > "fileC"

Each awk implementaion has a different maximum number of currently open files allowed, except gawk, which is unlimited (it does it by internally closing files as necessary) CaKiwi

 

[Daedelus]

Okay, that works fine for output to files (at least without the quotes, with them it prints:
"WhatYouWant>fileA"
to standard output.)

But what I really want to do is print status information to the terminal, while I am piping the awk output to another command.
I have tried

print "out" >&2

but awk squawks that this statement cannot be correctly parsed. I was hoping there might be a more elegant solution than the pipe to "cat >&2" one I gave above. Thanks

 

[CaKiwi]

gawk provides the following syntax to write to stderr, but other awks do not, as far as I know.

print "error" > "/dev/stderr"

Your method of piping to cat is only way I know of to do it for other awks. CaKiwi

 

[Daedelus]

Thanks to you both. I guess just because I wish I could do something doesn't mean I can. And thanks CaKiwi for pointing out that the > has to be outside the quotes. I tried: print "out" >"&2" on a whim. The result was I had to figure out how to remove a file named "&2", since rm &2 will not do it! (rm \&2 works).