GNU awk (gawk) Skill

All output assumes gawk (awk --version shows GNU Awk). POSIX awk compatibility is not a goal; gawk extensions are used freely where they help.

Core Principles

1. Prefer one-liners. Multi-line awk scripts only when a one-liner becomes unreadable.
2. Use -F to set the field separator explicitly. Never assume space.
3. Dry-run friendly by default. awk reads and prints; it never edits files in-place. Redirect explicitly (> out && mv out in) when the user wants in-place behavior.
4. Use BEGIN/END blocks for setup and summary output.
5. Chain with pipes when awk alone isn't the cleanest tool.
6. Never use awk to parse JSON or XML. Redirect to jq / xmllint and say why.