gawk for windows error

[dbase77]

Hi,

I installed gawk for windows. When I tried to run the same awk command that I was using from Unix, I got error below. Am I missing something here? Thanks.

C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin>gawk 'length($0)<100{$0=sprintf("%-100s",$0)}1' input_file > output_file
The system cannot find the file specified.

 

[LKBrwnDBA]

What is it you do not understand about "[red]The system cannot find the file specified.[/red]"?

May it be that the input_file is not in the C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin directory?




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The person who says it can't be done should not interrupt the person doing it. -- Chinese proverb

 

[dbase77]

Hi,

The input_file is in the directory. This confuse me, why windows system giving out that error. Do you thing I used the wrong gawk command?

Thanks.

 

[columb]

Can you post the output of

C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin>dir input_file
C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin>gawk '{print}' input_file

preferably using cut and paste

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[dbase77]

Hi,

C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin>dir input_file
Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is C470-36AC

Directory of C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin

25/09/2007 12:33 1,935 input_file
1 File(s) 1,935 bytes
0 Dir(s) 9,652,367,360 bytes free

C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin>gawk '{print}' input_file
gawk: cmd. line:1: '{print}'
gawk: cmd. line:1: ^ invalid char ''' in expression

C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin>

 

[feherke]

Hi

Yep, there you have the reason. The [tt]cmd[/tt] does not parse the single quote ( ' ) as quotation mark and pases it directly to the [tt]awk[/tt]. And as we know, together with the single quotes that line is not valid [tt]awk[/tt] syntax.

I suggest to install CygWin to have a complete Linux environment for your tools, together with [tt]bash[/tt] and [tt]ksh[/tt].

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[columb]

Hmm...

Does Windows gawk dislike the single quote?
What does

gawk "{print}" input_file

do?

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[PHV]

With gawk for windows ALWAYS use the -f option

Hope This Helps, PH.
FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[dbase77]

Any other way I could do this without installing cgywin? Internet is not an option here. Thanks.

 

[PHV]

Yes, create a file containing the awk program and use the -f option of the gawk command.

BTW, you've asked in an UNIX forum !

Hope This Helps, PH.
FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[feherke]

Hi

Does Windows gawk dislike the single quote?

No. All [tt]awk[/tt] implementations dislike getting a bare single quote ( ' ) in their face. The Unix equivalent of the test line you suggested would be like this :

[blue]master #[/blue] awk "'{print}'" input_file
awk: syntax error near line 1
awk: bailing out near line 1

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[dbase77]

columb,

using double quote seems OK. But how do I use it for my script?


PHV,

using -f I still got error about single quote. Any idea? I paste my script inside a file and run:

gawk -f gawkfile

C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin>gawk -f gawkfile
gawk: gawkfile:1: 'length($0)<100{$0=sprintf("%-100s",$0)}1' input_file > output_file
gawk: ffb.txt:1: ^ invalid char ''' in expression

 

[feherke]

Hi

Put this in the file :

length($0)<100{$0=sprintf("%-100s",$0)}1

and this in the command line :

[blue]C:\Program Files\GnuWin32\bin>[/blue]gawk -f gawkfile input_file > output_file

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[dbase77]

Sorry for posting in UNIX. I thought since I copy awk from UNIX, somebody in here could give me some answer.

Should I move it to awk forum under programmer?

 

[PHV]

gawkfile:
length($0)<100{$0=sprintf("%-100s",$0)}
1

command line:
gawk -f gawkfile input_file > output_file

Hope This Helps, PH.
FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[p5wizard]

I'd loose the quotes inside the gawkfile and the in/out file needs to be on the gwak command line:

gawkfile:
length($0)<100{$0=sprintf("%-100s",$0)}1

commandline:
gawk -f gawkfile inputfile > output_file

(I dind't test it like this, but it would make sense to me)


HTH,

p5wizard

 

[dbase77]

Hi,

Thanks everybody for helping me. Really appreciate it.

 

[futurelet]

Putting a program on the command-line is usually harder in windows than under unix. This should work.

gawk "length($0)<100{$0=sprintf(\"%-100s\",$0)}1" input_file

If you have mawk, try

mawk "length($0)<100{$0=sprintf('%-100s',$0)}1" input_file

Another way to feed a program to awk:

echo length($0)<100{$0=sprintf("%-100s",$0)}1|awk -f - file

Windows doesn't recognize ' as a quote character, so if it sees < it thinks input-redirection from a file is called for. So although Ruby, for example, allows this:
[tt]ruby -e 'puts 8*2'[/tt]
you have to make sure you don't use < or > or |.

 

[columb]

The more I think about it the more I agree with feherke that, if you're used to Unix, then the Cygwin route is the one to take. I don't want to start a flame war but bash/ksh is so much more powerful than cmd and you'll know your scripts will work.

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy