A detailed explanation of how to use arrays in awk
Arrays in AWK are a data structure that allows you to store multiple values in a single variable and access and manipulate those values using indexes. In AWK, arrays are referred to as associative arrays because they use associated keys to reference and access elements.
In AWK, the indices of an array can be any string or number, and the elements of the array can be any AWK value, including numeric values, strings, and other arrays. The default value for array elements is zero (0) or an empty string (“”).
Here are some common uses of AWK arrays:
- a variety of choices
- Can you explain that to me again?
array arr
- I just need one choice.
- mountain
arr[1] = 10
arr[2] = 20
- I am unable to talk right now as I am on a call.
- stop the fuss
print arr[1]
- for the purpose of
- “arr” can be roughly translated to “ready” in English.
for (i in arr) {
print i, arr[i]
}
- Array functions: AWK comes equipped with some built-in functions to work with arrays. For example, the length(arr) function will return the number of elements in the array arr, and the delete arr function will remove all elements from the array arr.
- Multi-dimensional array: AWK also supports multi-dimensional arrays, which means the elements of an array can be another array itself. For example, the following code declares a two-dimensional array called matrix:
array matrix[2,2]
You can use two indexes to access the elements of a two-dimensional array. For example, the following code sets the second element of the first element of the matrix array to 10, and prints out its value:
matrix[1,2] = 10
print matrix[1,2]
Here are some common uses of arrays in AWK. Arrays are very useful in AWK, allowing you to handle and manage large amounts of data. You can use arrays to implement various functions based on your needs.