print a specific column

[jdhahbi]

Hi
I want to print column2 if column1 is b with:

awk '$1==b {print $2}' infile > outfile

infile
a 1
b 2
c 3
b 4
e 5
b 6
please help
joseph
the outfile is empty.

it should look like this:
2
4
6

 

[p5wizard]

Try to compare with the string literal "b" instead of just the name b.

Right now you're comaparing with an uninitialized (so zero value) variable called b, so only if column 1 is zero your print $2 instruction would run.

HTH,

p5wizard

 

[jdhahbi]

thank you very much