Unleashing the Power of `awk`: Advanced Text Processing Techniques

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When it comes to text processing on the command line, `awk` is a Swiss Army knife. While it’s often used for simple tasks like column extraction, `awk` can perform complex text transformations and data manipulation. In this article, we’ll explore advanced `awk` use cases to help you master text processing with finesse.

Advanced Text Extraction

`awk` can handle complex text extraction tasks with ease. Suppose you have a log file with multiple fields, and you want to extract entries that meet specific criteria:

CSV Data Manipulation

Tip 1: Extract Specific Columns from CSV

Use awk to extract specific columns from a CSV file:

awk -F',' '{print $1, $3}' data.csv

Tip 2: Calculate Column Sum

Calculate the sum of values in a CSV column:

awk -F',' '{sum += $2} END {print sum}' data.csv

XML Data Processing

Tip 3: Extract XML Tags

Extract specific XML tags from an XML file:

awk '/<tag>/,/<\/tag>/' data.xml