QSEAWK Language {#awk-lang}

=======

Overview

QSEAWK implements the language described in the The AWK Programming Language with extensions.

QSEAWK reads an AWK program, recognizes various tokens contained while skipping comments and whitespaces that don't constinute a token, analyses syntax, and tranforms them to an internal form for execution.

Program Structure

A QSEAWK program is composed of the following elements at the top level.

pattern-action block pair
- BEGIN action block pair
- END action block pair
- action block without a pattern
- pattern without an action block
user-defined function
@global variable declaration
@include directive

However, none of the above is mandatory. QSEAWK accepts an empty program.

Patter-Action Block Pairs

A pattern-action pair is composed of a pattern and an action block as shown below:

 pattern {
   statement
   statement
   ...
 }

A pattern can be one of the followings when specified:

expression
first-expression, last-expression
BEGIN
END

An action block is a series of statements enclosed in a curly bracket pair. The BEGIN and END patterns require an action block while normal patterns don't. When no action block is specified for a normal pattern, it is treated as if { print $0; } is specified.

QSEAWK executes the action block for the BEGIN pattern when it starts executing a program; No start-up action is taken if no BEGIN pattern-action pair is specified. If a normal pattern-action pair and/or the END pattern-action is specified, it reads the standard input stream. For each input line it reads, it checks if a normal pattern expression evaluates to true. For each pattern that evaluates to true, it executes the action block specified for the pattern. When it reaches the end of the input stream, it executes the action block for the END pattern.

QSEAWK allows zero or more BEGIN patterns. When multiple BEGIN patterns are specified, it executes their action blocks in the order they appear in the program. The same applies to the END patterns and their action blocks. It doesn't read the standard input stream for programs composed of BEGIN blocks only whereas it reads the stream as long as there is an action block for an END pattern or a normal pattern. It evaluates an empty pattern to true; As a result, the action block for an empty pattern is executed for all input lines read.

You can compose a pattern range by putting 2 patterns separated by a comma. The pattern range evaluates to true once the first expression evaluates to true until the last expression evaluates to true.

The following code snippet is a valid QSEAWK program that prints the string hello, world to the console and exits.

 BEGIN {
   print "hello, world";
 }

This program prints "hello, world" followed by "hello, all" to the console.

 BEGIN {
   print "hello, world";
 }
 BEGIN {
   print "hello, all";
 }

For the following text input,

 abcdefgahijklmn
 1234567890
 opqrstuvwxyzabc
 9876543210

this program

 BEGIN { mr=0; my_nr=0; }
 /abc/ { print "[" $0 "]"; mr++; }
 { my_nr++; }
 END { 
   print "total records: " NR; 
   print "total records selfcounted: " my_nr; 
   print "matching records: " mr; 
 }

produces the output text like this:

 [abcdefgahijklmn]
 [opqrstuvwxyzabc]
 total records: 4
 total records selfcounted: 4
 matching records: 2

See the table for the order of execution indicated by the number and the result of pattern evaluation enclosed in parenthesis. The action block is executed if the evaluation result is true.

	START-UP	abcdefgahijklmn	1234567890	opqrstuvwxyzabc	9876543210	SHUTDOWN
BEGIN { mr = 0; my_nr=0; }	1(true)
/abc/ { print "[" $0 "]"; mr++; }		2(true)	4(false)	6(true)	8(false)
{ my_nr++; }		3(true)	5(true)	7(true)	9(true)
END { print ... }						10(true)

For the same input, this program shows how to use a ranged pattern.

 /abc/,/stu/ { print "[" $0 "]"; }

It produces the output text like this:

 [abcdefgahijklmn]
 [1234567890]
 [opqrstuvwxyzabc]

The regular expression /abc/ matches the first input line and /stu/ matches the third input line. So the range is true between the first input line and the third input line inclusive.

Note

The QSEAWK engine provides a way to use a user-defined function as an entry point instead of executing pattern-action block pairs. When you choose to use a user-defined function as an entry point, it doesn't execute such pairs. Read \ref awk-embed and see qse_awk_rtx_call() and qse_awk_rtx_callfun() for how to change the entry point programatically.

@include

The @include directive inserts the contents of the file specified in the following string as if they appeared in the source stream being processed.

 @include "abc.awk"
 BEGIN { func_in_abc (); }

A semicolon is optional after the included file name. The following is the same as the sample above.

 @include "abc.awk";
 BEGIN { func_in_abc(); }

The directive can be used inside a block.

 BEGIN {
   @include "abc.awk";
   print var_in_abc;
 }

Note

If #QSE_AWK_NEWLINE is off, a semicolon is required after the string.

See #qse_awk_sio_t for customizing file includsion handling.

Tokens

When QSEAWK parses a program, it classifies a series of input characters into meaningful tokens. It can extract the smallest meaningful unit through this tokenization process.

Comments

A comment is part of the program text excluded during tokenization. You can put descriptive text about the program in a comment.

A single-line comment is introduced by a hash character #, and is terminated at the end of the same line. Additionally, it supports a C-style multi-line comment enclosed in /* and */. The multi-line comment can't nest and can't appear within string literals and regular expressions.

 x = y; # assign y to x.
 /*
 this line is ignored.
 this line is ignored too.
 */

Reserved Words

The following words are reserved and cannot be used as a variable name, a parameter name, or a function name.

BEGIN
END
function
@local
@global
@include
if
else
while
for
do
break
continue
return
exit
@abort
delete
@reset
next
nextfile
nextofile
print
printf
getline

However, these words can be used as normal names in the context of a module call. For example, mymod::break.

In practice, the predefined names used for built-in commands, functions, and variables are treated as if they are reserved since you can't create another denifition with the same name.

Numbers

An integer begins with a numeric digit between 0 and 9 inclusive and can be followed by more numeric digits. If an integer is immediately followed by a floating point, and optionally a series of numeric digits without whitespaces, it becomes a floting-point number. An integer or a simple floating-point number can be followed by e or E, and optionally a series of numeric digits with a optional single sign letter. A floating-point number may begin with a floting point with a preceeding number.

369   # integer
3.69  # floating-pointe number
13.   # 13.0
.369  # 0.369
34e-2 # 34 * (10 ** -2)
34e+2 # 34 * (10 ** 2)
34.56e # 34.56 
34.56E3

An integer can be prefixed with 0x, 0, 0b for a hexa-decimal number, an octal number, and a binary number respectively. For a hexa-decimal number, letters from A to F can form a number case-insenstively in addition to numeric digits.

0xA1   # 161
0xB0b0 # 45232
020    # 16
0b101  # 5

If the prefix is not followed by any numeric digits, it is still a valid token and represents the value of 0.

0x # 0x0 but not desirable.
0b # 0b0 but not desirable.

Strings

A string is enclosed in a pair of double quotes or single quotes.

A character in a string enclosed in the double-quotes, when preceded with a back-slash, changes the meaning.

\a - alert
\b - backspace
\f - formfeed
\n - newline
\r - carriage return
\t - horizontal tab
\v - vertical tab
\\ - backslash
\" - double quote

You can specify a character with an octal number or a hexadecimal number. The actual value can range between 0 and 255 inclusive.

\OOO - O is an octal digit.
\xXX - X is a hexadecimal digit.

In the octal sequence, you can specify up to 3 octal digits after \; In the hexadecimal sequence, you can specify as many hexadecimal digits as possible after \x.

 BEGIN { 
   print "\xC720\xB2C8\xCF54\xB4DC \x7D71\x4E00\x78BC"; 
 }

This program should print \em 유니코드 \em 統一碼 if the character type can represent the numbers in the sequence. If the number doesn't fit in the range that the current character type can represent, the character generated from the sequence is undefined.

The \u and \U sequences, unlike ths \x sequence, limits the maximum number of hexadecimal digits. It is available if the [Character Type](@ref installation) chosen for building is the wide character type.

\uXXXX - X is a hexadecimal digit. up to 4 digits
\UXXXXXXXX - X is a hexadecimal digit. up to 8 digits

The program above can be rewritten like this.

 BEGIN { 
   print "\uC720\uB2C8\uCF54\uB4DC \U00007D71\U00004E00\U000078BC"; 
 }

If \x, \u, \U are not followed by a hexadecimal digit, x, u, U are produced respectively.

There are no special sequences supported for a string enclosed in the single quotes. For that reason, you can't specify the single quote itself within a single-quoted string. The following program prints awk in double quotes.

 BEGIN { 
   print '"awk"';
 }

If QSEAWK is built with the wide character support disabled, it doesn support the \u and \U specifiers.

Regular Expressions

A regular expression is enclosed in a pair of forward slashes. The special sequences for a double-quoted string are all supported in a regular expression.

TBD.

Octal character notation is not supported in a regular expression literal since it conflicts with the backreference notation.

Note

QSEAWK forms a token with the lognest valid sequences. Tokenization can be confusing, especially for the implicit concatention. Let's take 0xT as an example. Since 0x not followed by a digit is a valid token, and T is an identifier, it is the same expression as 0x concatenated with T (0x @@ T).

Data Types

QSEAWK supports scalar data types and composite data types. The scalar types include nil, numeric, string and the composite type includes a hashed map.

The nil type is an implicit type and it's used to initialize all unassigned variables and values. It's converted to 0 in the numeric context and an empty string in the string context. It evaluates to false in the boolean context.

The numeric types include integers and floating-point numbers. The value can be used interchangeablly in most contexts. A number is converted to a string in the string context. Automatic conversion occurs whenever necessary depending on the context.

A string contains characters. A string is automatically converted to a number in the numeric context. Conversion from a string to a number takes all valid characters that can form a number token including the integer token and a floating-number token. The remainging characters starting from the first invalid character are ignored. If no valid characters are found, it's converted to 0. For example, "0x20X" / 3 produces 10.6667. The string "0x20X" is converted to an integer 32 and the division is performed producing a floating-pointer number.

You can create a hashed map by assigning a value to a variable indexed with a subscript placed within square brackets. A hashed map is converted to its size in the numeric context and "#MAP" in the string context.

A regular expression may or may not be viewed as a data type. You can't assign a compiled regular expression into a variable. A regular expression not placed on the right-handle side of the ~ operator and the !~ operator is matched against $0 and evalutes to true or false acccording to the matching result. For an expression a = /abc/, a holds true or false, not the regular expression itself. However, some built-in functions accept compiled regular expressions as arguments if only the functions are designed to do so.

In the boolean context, a numeric value of 0 regardless of its numeric type, an empty string, and a nil value evaluate to false. All other values evaluate to true.

Note

The automatic conversion of a hashed map to a number or a string is disallowed if #QSE_AWK_FLEXMAP is off. This program ends up with an error when it is off.
  BEGIN  { a[1]=1; a[30]=2; a[4]=4; print ("a=" a); }
See #qse_awk_fnc_spec_t and #qse_awk_fnc_arg_t to define a function that can accept a regular expression.

User-defined Variables

QSEAWK supports three types of user-defined variables: global, local, named.

A named variable is a variable created without declaration. It's created when it's first referenced and it becomes available globally whereas a global variable and a local variable is created through declaration.

You can declare a global variable using the @global keyword at the top-level.

 @global var1, var2, ..., varn;

A global variable can be referenced after it's defined. See this example:

 BEGIN { a = 10; }
 function print_a () { print a; }
 @global a;
 BEGIN { a = 20; }
 BEGIN { print a; print_a(); }

The variable a is assigned with 10 on the first line. The global variable declaration appears 2 lines down the code. So the variable a on the first and the second line is a named variable. The variable a on the fourth line appears after the declaration on the third line. It refers to the global variable a. As a result, it prints 20 and 10 when the fifth line is executed.

You can declare a local variable using the @local keyword inside a function body and an action block. The declaration can be placed at the beginning of a block statement.

 @local var1, var2, ... varn;

A local variable can shade a global variable. See the sample below:

 @global g1, g2; #declares two global variables g1 and g2
 BEGIN {
     @local a1, a2, a3; # declares three local variables 
     g1 = 300; a1 = 200;
     {
          @local a1; # a1 here hides the a1 at the outer scope
          @local g1; # g1 here hides the global g1
          a1 = 10; g1 = 5;
          print a1, g1; # it prints 10 and 5
     }
     print a1, g1; # it prints 200 and 300
 }

Note

The QSEAWK engine allows the mixture of named variables and declared variables. However, the mixture may lead to confusion. Use #QSE_AWK_IMPLICIT to allow named variables when configuring the engine.

Built-in Variables

QSEAWK defines the following built-in variables:

FS
NR

TBD.

FS

If the value for FS begins with a question mark followed by 4 additional letters, QSEAWK can split a record with quoted fields delimited by a single-letter separator.

The 4 additional letters are composed of a field separator, an escaper, a opening quote, and a closing quote.

See this sample code.

BEGIN { FS="?:\\[]"; }
{
     for (i = 1; i <= NF; i++)
          print "$" i ": " $i;
     print "---------------";
}

The value of FS in the program above means the following.

: is a field separator.
a backslash is an escaper.
a left bracket is an opening quote.
a right bracket is a closing quote.

For the input:

[fx1]:[fx2]:[f\[x\]3]
abc:def:[a b c]

the sample code produces this output text:

$1: fx1
$2: fx2
$3: f[x]3
---------------
$1: abc
$2: def
$3: a b c
---------------

Hashed Map

You can store key-values pairs in a hashed map.

A scalar value is immutable while a hashed map value is mutable.

A variable is tied to a value when it is assigned with a value. If the variable is tied to a map value, it can't be assigned again. You can use @reset to untie the variable from the value, and thus restore the variable to the 'nil' state.

TBD.

Note

Use #QSE_AWK_FLEXMAP to adjust the switching flexibility of a variable between a scalar value and a hashed map.

User-defined Functions

You can define a function using the following syntax:

function name (arg1, arg2, ..., argn) {
	statement
	statement
	...
}

The caller must invoke a function with the same or less number of arguments than the definition. When a function is called with the less number of arguments, the redundant parameters are initialized to a nil value.

You can't define multiple functions with the same name. The function name can't confict with named variables and globals variables.

Built-in Functions

close
fflush
int
typename
isnil
index
length
substr
split
tolower
toupper
gsub
sub
match
sprintf
mktime
strftime
systime

TBD.

Function Calls

You can call a function by referencing a function name with arguments enclosed in parenthesis. The basic syntax looks liket this:

 name(arg1, arg2, ..., argn)

TBD.

Note

If there is a space between a name and the left parenthesis, the interpretation of the name can be more confusing. Let's consider this program.
 BEGIN { name (1); }
 function name(a) { print a; }
When #QSE_AWK_IMPLICIT is on, named variables are allowed. As the function of the name is not defined before the call, the word name on the first line is treated a named variable. The function defintion on the second line ends up to be a syntax error of redefining a variable as the function definition can't shadow a variable name.

EXTENDED FUNCTIONS

index() and match() can accept the third parameter indicating the position where the search begins. A negative value indicates a position from the back.

 BEGIN {
    xstr = "abcdefabcdefabcdef";
    xsub = "abc";
    xlen = length(xsub);

    i = 1;
    while ((i = index(xstr, xsub, i)) > 0)
    {
       print i, substr(xstr, i, xlen);
       i += xlen;
    }
 }

match() accepts the fourth parameter. The parameter is set to the array containing submatches. The caller can get the number of submatches by dividing the array size by 2. Assuming the array name of x, the nth submatch is set in x[n,"start"] and x[n,"length"].

 match($0, /^([[:digit:]]+),([[:digit:]]+),([[:digit:]]+)/, 1, xx) >= 1 {
   count = length(xx) \ 2;
   for (i = 1; i <= count; i++) print xx[i,"start"], xx[i,"length"]; 
   print RSTART, RLENGTH
 }

Opeartors

TEQ operator

The === operator compares two values and evaluates to a non-zero value if both have the same internal type and the actual values are the same. so 1 is not equal to 1.0 for the === operator.

A map comparison for the === operator is a bit special. The contents of the map is never inspected. Comparing two maps always result in inequality.

However, if two variables points to the same map value, it can evaluate to a non-zero value. This is possible if you allow assigning a map to another non-map variable with #QSE_AWK_MAPTOVAR. In this case, a map is not deep-copied but the reference to it is copied.

 BEGIN { 
   a[10]=20; 
   b=a; 
   b[20]=40;
   for (i in a) print i, a[i];  
   print a===b;
 }

The === operator may be also useful when you want to indicate an error with an uninitialized variable. The following code check if the function returned a map. Since the variable 'nil' has never been assigned, its internal type is 'NIL' and

 function a ()
 {
   x[10] = 2;
   return x;
 }

 BEGIN {
   t = a();
   if (t === nil)
     print "nil";
   else
     print "ok";
 }

The !== operator is a negated form of the === operator.

Grouped Expression

When #QSE_AWK_TOLERANT is on, you can use a grouped expression without the in operator. A grouped expression is a parentheses-enclosed list of expressions separated with a comma. Each expression in the group is evaluated in the appearing order. The evaluation result of the last expression in the group is returned as that of the group.

 BEGIN {
   c = (1, 2, 9);
   a=((1*c, 3*c), (3 - c), ((k = 6+(c+1, c+2)), (-7 * c)));
   print c; # 9;
   print a; # -63
   print k; # 17
 }

Commands

AWK has the following command statements:

if
while
for
do .. while
break
continue
return
exit
@abort
next
nextfile
nextofile
delete
@reset
print
printf
expression

return

The return statement is valid in pattern-action blocks as well as in functions. The execution of a calling block is aborted once the return statement is executed.

 $ qseawk 'BEGIN { return 20; }' ; echo $?
 20

If #QSE_AWK_FLEXMAP is on, you can return an arrayed value from a function.

 function getarray() {
   @local a;
   a["one"] = 1;
   a["two"] = 2;
   a["three"] = 3;
   return a;
 }

 BEGIN {
   @local x;
   x = getarray();
   for (i in x) print i, x[i];
 }

@reset

The @reset statement resets a variable back to the unassigned state.

 BEGIN {
   a[1] = 20;
   @reset a;
   print a+0; # print 0
 }

Note

If the QSEAWK engine is configured with #QSE_AWK_FLEXMAP off, you can use the statement over a hashed map variable and assign a scalar value to the variable.

@abort

The @abort statment is similar to the exit statement except that it skips executing the END block. You must have #QSE_AWK_ABORT on to be able to use this statement.

 BEGIN {
    print "--- BEGIN ---";
    @abort 10;
 }
 END {
    print "--- END ---"; # this must not be printed
 }

Built-in I/O

QSEAWK comes with built-in I/O commands and functions in addition to the implicit input streams for pattern-action blocks. The built-in I/O facility is available only if QSEAWK is set with #QSE_AWK_RIO.

getline

The getline command has multiple forms of usage. It can be used with or without a variable name and can also be associated with a pipe or a file redirection. The default association is the console when no pipe and file redirection is specified. In principle, it reads a record from the associated input stream and updates $0 or a variable with the record. If it managed to perform this successfully, it return 1; it if detected EOF, it returns 0; it return -1 on failure.

getline without a following variable reads a record from an associated input stream, updates $0 with the value and increments FNR, NR. Updating $0 also causes changes in NF and fields from $1 to $NF.

The sample below reads records from the console and prints them.

 BEGIN {
   while (getline > 0) print $0;
 }

It is equivalent to

 { print $0 }

but performs the task in the BEGIN block.

getline with a variable reads a record from an associated input stream and updates the variable with the value. It updates FNR and NR, too.

 BEGIN {
   while (getline line > 0) print line;
 }

You can change the stream association to a pipe or a file. If getline or getline variable is followed by a input redirection operator(<) and an expression, the evaluation result of the expression becomes the name of the file to read records from. The file is opened at the first occurrence and can be closed with the close function.

 BEGIN {
    filename = "/etc/passwd";
    while ((getline line < filename) > 0) print line;
    close (filename);
 }

When getline or getline variable is preceded with an expression and a pipe operator(|), the evaluation result of the expression becomes the name of the external command to execute. The command is executed at the first occurrence and can be terminated with the close function. The example below reads the output of the ls -laF command and prints it to the console.

 BEGIN {
    procname = "ls -laF";
    while ((procname | getline line) > 0) print line;
    close (procname);
 }

The two-way pipe operator(||) can also be used to read records from an external command. There is no visible chanages to the end-user in case of the example above if you switch the operator.

 BEGIN {
    procname = "ls -laF";
    while ((procname || getline line) > 0) print line;
    close (procname);
 }

The getline command acts like a function in that it returns a value. But you can't place an empty parentheses when no variable name is specified nor can you parenthesize the optional variable name. For example, getline(a) is different from getline a and means the concatenation of the return value of getline and the variable a. Besides, it is not clear if

 getline a < b

is

 (getline a) < b

or

 (getline) (a < b)

For this reason, you are advised to parenthesize getline and its related components to avoid confusion whenever necessary. The example reading into the variable line can be made clearer with parenthesization.

 BEGIN {
   while ((getline line) > 0) print line;
 }

print

TBD.

printf

When #QSE_AWK_TOLERANT is on, print and printf are treated as if they are function calls. In this mode, they return a negative number on failure and a zero on success and any I/O failure doesn't abort a running program.

 BEGIN {
   a = print "hello, world" > "/dev/null";
   print a;
   a = print ("hello, world") > "/dev/null";
   print a;
 }

Since print and printf are like function calls, you can use them in any context where a normal expression is allowed. For example, printf is used as a conditional expression in an 'if' statement in the sample code below.

 BEGIN {
   if ((printf "hello, world\n" || "tcp://127.0.0.1:9999") <= -1)
     print "FAILURE";
   else
     print "SUCCESS";
 }

close (io-name, what)

The close function closes a stream indicated by the name io-name. It takes an optional parameter what indicating whether input or output should be closed.

If io-name is a file, it closes the file handle associated; If io-name is a command, it may kill the running process from the command, reclaims other sytstem resources, and closes the pipe handles; If io-name is a network stream, it tears down connections to the network peer and closes the socket handles.

The optional paramenter what must be one of r or w when used is useful when io-name is a command invoked for the two-way pipe operator. The value of r causes the function to close the read-end of the pipe and the value of w causes the function to close the write-end of the pipe.

The function returns 0 on success and -1 on failure.

Though not so useful, it is possible to create more than 1 streams of different kinds under the same name. The following program generates a shell script /tmp/x containing a command ls -laF and executes it without closing the script file being generated. It reads the execution output via a pipe and prints it to the console. It is undefined which stream the last close should close assuming the first close is commented out and the program works.

 BEGIN {
    print "ls -laF" > "/tmp/x";      # file stream
    system ("chmod ugo+x /tmp/x");   
    #close ("/tmp/x"); 
    while(("/tmp/x" | getline y) > 0) print y;  # pipe stream
    close ("/tmp/x"); # which stream to close?
 }

Note that the execution of generated script fails if the script file is open on some platforms. That's what the first close commented out is actually for.

fflush (io-name)

The fflush function flushes the output stream indicated by io-name. If io-name is not specified, it flushes the open console output stream. If io-name is an empty stream, it flushes all open output streams. It returns 0 on success and -1 on failure.

QSEAWK doesn't open the console output stream before it executes any output commands like print or printf. so fflush() returns -1 in the following program.

 BEGIN { 
   fflush(); 
 }

The print command is executed before fflush() in the following program. When fflush() is executed, the output stream is open. so fflush() returns 0.

 BEGIN { 
   print 1; 
   fflush(); 
 }

Though not so useful, it is possible to create more than 1 output streams of different kinds under the same name. fflush in the following program flushes both the file stream and the pipe stream.

 BEGIN { 
   print 1 | "/tmp/x"; # file stream
   print 1 > "/tmp/x"; # pipe stream
   fflush ("/tmp/x");
 }

setioattr (io-name, attr-name, attr-value)

The setioattr function changes the I/O attribute of the name attr-name to the value attr-value for a stream identified by io-name. It returns 0 on success and -1 on failure.

io-name is a source or target name used in getline, print, printf combined with |, ||, >, <, >>.
attr-name is one of codepage, ctimeout, atimeout, rtimeout, wtimeout.
attr-value varies depending on attr-name.
- codepage: cp949, cp950, utf8, slmb, mb8
- ctimeout, atimeout, rtimeout, wtimeout: the number of seconds. effective on socket based streams only. you may use a floating-point number for lower resolution than a second. a negative value turns off timeout.

See this sample that prints the contents of a document encoded in cp949.

 BEGIN { 
   setioattr ("README.TXT", "codepage", "cp949"); 
   while ((getline x < "README.TXT") > 0) print x; 
  }

getioattr (io-name, attr-name, attr-value)

The getioattr() function retrieves the current attribute value of the attribute named attr-name for the stream identified by io-name. The value retrieved is set to the variable referenced by attr-value. See setioattr for description on io-name and attr-name. It returns 0 on success and -1 on failure.

 BEGIN { 
   setioattr ("README.TXT", "codepage", "cp949"); 
   if (getioattr ("README.TXT", "codepage", codepage) <= -1)
     print "codepage unknown";
   else print "codepage: " codepage;
 }

Two-way Pipe

The two-way pipe is indicated by the two-way pipe operator(||) and QSEAWK must be set with #QSE_AWK_RWPIPE to be able to use the two-way pipe.

The example redirects the output of print to the external sort command and reads back the output.

 BEGIN {
   print "15" || "sort";
   print "14" || "sort";
   print "13" || "sort";
   print "12" || "sort";
   print "11" || "sort";
   # close the input side of the pipe as 'sort' starts emitting result 
   # once the input is closed.
   close ("sort", "r");
   while (("sort" || getline x) > 0) print x; 
 }

This two-way pipe can create a TCP or UDP connection if the pipe command string is prefixed with one of the followings:

tcp:// - establishes a TCP connection to a specified IP address/port.
udp:// - establishes a TCP connection to a specified IP address/port.
tcpd:// - binds a TCP socket to a specified IP address/port and waits for the first connection.
udpd:// - binds a TCP socket to a specified IP address/port and waits for the first sender.

See this example.

 BEGIN { 
   # it binds a TCP socket to the IPv6 address :: and the port number 
   # 9999 and waits for the first coming connection. It repeats writing
   # "hello world" to the first connected peer and reading a line from
   # it until the session is torn down.
   do { 
      print "hello world" || "tcpd://[::]:9999"; 
      if (("tcpd://[::]:9999" || getline x) <= 0) break; 
      print x; 
   } 
   while(1);  
 }

You can manipulate TCP or UDP timeouts for connection, accepting, reading, and writing with the setioattr function and the getioattr function.

See the example below.

 BEGIN { 
   setioattr ("tcp://127.0.0.1:9999", "ctimeout", 3);
   setioattr ("tcp://127.0.0.1:9999", "rtimeout", 5.5);
   print "hello world" || "tcp://127.0.0.1:9999"; 
   "tcp://127.0.0.1:9999" || getline x; 
   print x;
 }

Here is an interesting example adopting Michael Sanders' AWK web server, modified for QSEAWK.

 # 
 # Michael Sanders' AWK web server for QSEAWK.
 # Orginal code in http://awk.info/?tools/server
 #
 # qseawk --tolerant=on --rwpipe=on webserver.awk
 #
 BEGIN {
   x        = 1                         # script exits if x < 1 
   port     = 8080                      # port number 
   host     = "tcpd://0.0.0.0:" port    # host string 
   url      = "http://localhost:" port  # server url 
   status   = 200                       # 200 == OK 
   reason   = "OK"                      # server response 
   RS = ORS = "\r\n"                    # header line terminators 
   doc      = Setup()                   # html document 
   len      = length(doc) + length(ORS) # length of document 
   while (x) {
      if ($1 == "GET") RunApp(substr($2, 2))
      if (! x) break
      print "HTTP/1.0", status, reason || host
      print "Connection: Close"        || host
      print "Pragma: no-cache"         || host
      print "Content-length:", len     || host
      print ORS doc                    || host
      close(host)     # close client connection 
      host || getline # wait for new client request 
   }
   # server terminated... 
   doc = Bye()
   len = length(doc) + length(ORS)
   print "HTTP/1.0", status, reason || host
   print "Connection: Close"        || host
   print "Pragma: no-cache"         || host
   print "Content-length:", len     || host
   print ORS doc                    || host
   close(host)
 }
 
 function Setup() {
   tmp = "<html>\
   <head><title>Simple gawk server</title></head>\
   <body>\
   <p><a href=" url "/xterm>xterm</a>\
   <p><a href=" url "/xcalc>xcalc</a>\
   <p><a href=" url "/xload>xload</a>\
   <p><a href=" url "/exit>terminate script</a>\
   </body>\
   </html>"
   return tmp
 }
 
 function Bye() {
   tmp = "<html>\
   <head><title>Simple gawk server</title></head>\
   <body><p>Script Terminated...</body>\
   </html>"
   return tmp
 }
 
 function RunApp(app) {
   if (app == "xterm")  {system("xterm&"); return}
   if (app == "xcalc" ) {system("xcalc&"); return}
   if (app == "xload" ) {system("xload&"); return}
   if (app == "exit")   {x = 0}
 }

I/O Character Encoding

You can change the character encoding encoding of a stream. See qse_findcmgr() for a list of supported encoding names.

Let's say you run this simple echoing script on a WIN32 platform that has the active code page of 949 and is reachable at the IP address 192.168.2.8.

    C:\> chcp
    Active code page: 949
    C:\> type s.awk
    BEGIN {
        sock = "tcpd://0.0.0.0:9999";
        setioattr (sock, "codepage", "cp949"); 
        do {
            if ((sock || getline x) <= 0) break;
            print "PEER: " x;
            print x || sock;
        }
        while(1);
    }
    C:\> qseawk -f r.awk
    PEER: 안녕
    PEER: ?好!

Now you run the following script on a UTF-8 console of a Linux box.

    $ echo $LANG
    en_US.UTF-8
    $ cat  c.awk
    BEGIN {
        peer = "tcp://192.168.2.8:9999";
        setioattr (peer, "codepage", "cp949");
        do
        {
            printf "> ";
            if ((getline x) <= 0) break;
            print x || peer;
            if ((peer || getline line) <= -1) break;
            print "PEER: " line;
        }
        while (1);
    }
    $ qseawk --rwpipe=on -f c.awk
    > 안녕
    PEER: 안녕
    > 你好!
    PEER: ?好!

Note that 你 has been converted to a question mark since the letter is not supported by cp949.

Modules

QSEAWK supports various external modules.

String

The str module provides an extensive set of string manipulation functions.

str::gsub - equivalent to gsub
str::index
str::isalnum
str::isalpha
str::isblank
str::iscntrl
str::isdigit
str::isgraph
str::islower
str::isprint
str::ispunct
str::isspace
str::isupper
str::isxdigit
str::length - equivalent to length
str::ltrim
str::match - equivalent to match
str::normspace
str::printf - equivalent to sprintf
str::rindex
str::rtrim
str::split - equivalent to split
str::sub - equivalent to sub
str::substr - equivalent to substr
str::tolower - equivalent to tolower
str::tonum - convert a string to a number. a numeric value passed as a parameter is returned as it is. the leading prefix of 0b, 0, and 0x specifies the radix of 2, 8, 16 repectively. conversion stops when the end of the string is reached or the first invalid character for conversion is encountered.
str::toupper - equivalent to toupper
str::trim
str::value - get the numeric value of the first character

System

sys::chmod
sys::close
sys::closedir
sys::dup
sys::errmsg
sys::fork
sys::getegid
sys::getenv
sys::geteuid
sys::getgid
sys::getpid
sys::getppid
sys::gettid
sys::gettime
sys::getuid
sys::kill
sys::mkdir
sys::mktime
sys::open
sys::opendir
sys::openfd
sys::pipe
sys::read
sys::readdir
sys::setttime
sys::sleep
sys::strftime
sys::system
sys::unlink
sys::wait
sys::write

BEGIN {
        f = sys::open("/etc/sysctl.conf", sys::O_RDONLY);
        while (sys::read(f, x, 10) > 0) printf (B"%s", x);
        sys::close (f);
}

BEGIN {
	a = sys::openfd(1);
	sys::write (a, B"let me write something here\n");
	sys::close (a, sys::C_KEEPFD); ## set C_KEEPFD to release 1 without closing it.
	##sys::close (a);
	print "done\n";
}

BEGIN {
	if (sys::pipe(p0, p1, sys::O_CLOEXEC | sys::O_NONBLOCK) <= -1)
	##if (sys::pipe(p0, p1, sys::O_CLOEXEC) <= -1)
	##if (sys::pipe(p0, p1) <= -1)
	{
		print "pipe error";
		return -1;
	}
	a = sys::fork();
	if (a <= -1) 
	{
		print "fork error";
		sys::close (p0);
		sys::close (p1);
	}
	else if (a == 0)
	{
		## child
		printf ("child.... %d %d %d\n", sys::getpid(), p0, p1);
		sys::close (p1);
		while (1)
		{
			n = sys::read (p0, k, 3);
			if (n <= 0) 
			{
				if (n == sys::RC_EAGAIN) continue; ## nonblock but data not available
				if (n != 0) print "ERROR: " sys::errmsg();
				break;
			}
			print k;
		}
		sys::close (p0);
		return 123;
	}
	else
	{
		## parent
		printf ("parent.... %d %d %d\n", sys::getpid(), p0, p1);
		sys::close (p0);
		sys::write (p1, B"hello");
		sys::write (p1, B"world");
		sys::close (p1);

		##sys::wait(a, status, sys::WNOHANG);
		while (sys::wait(a, status) != a);
		if (sys::WIFEXITED(status)) print "Exit code: " sys::WEXITSTATUS(status);
		else print "Child terminated abnormally"
	}
}

BEGIN {
	a = sys::open("/etc/inittab", sys::O_RDONLY);
	x = sys::open("/etc/fstab", sys::O_RDONLY);

	b = sys::dup(a);
	sys::close(a);

	while (sys::read(b, abc, 100) > 0) printf (B"%s", abc);

	print "-------------------------------";

	c = sys::dup(x, b, sys::O_CLOEXEC);
	## assertion: b == c
	sys::close (x);

	while (sys::read(c, abc, 100) > 0) printf (B"%s", abc);
	sys::close (c);
}

BEGIN {
	if (sys::pipe(p0, p1, sys::O_NONBLOCK | sys::O_CLOEXEC) <= -1)
	{
		 print "pipe error";
		 return -1;
	}
	a = sys::fork();
	if (a <= -1)
	{
		print "fork error";
		sys::close (p0);
		sys::close (p1);
	}
	else if (a == 0)
	{
		## child
		sys::close (p0);

		stdout = sys::openfd(1);
		sys::dup(p1, stdout);

		print B"hello world";
		print B"testing sys::dup()";
		print B"writing to standard output..";

		sys::close (p1);
		sys::close (stdout);
	}
	else
	{
		sys::close (p1);
		while (1)
		{
			n = sys::read(p0, k, 10);
			if (n <= 0)
			{
				if (n == sys::RC_EAGAIN) continue; ## nonblock but data not available
				if (n != 0) print "ERROR: " sys::errmsg();
				break;
			}
			print "[" k "]";
		}
		sys::close (p0);
		sys::wait(a);
	}
}

BEGIN {
	d = sys::opendir("/etc", sys::DIR_SORT);
	if (d >= 0)
	{
		while (sys::readdir(d,a) > 0) print a;
		sys::closedir(d);
	}
}

SED

The sed module provides built-in sed capabilities.

sed::file_to_file (script-string, input-file, output-file [, option-string])
sed::str_to_str (script-string, input-string, output-variable, [, option-string])
sed::errstr (error-number)

 BEGIN { 
    x = sed::file_to_file("s/[a-z]/#/g", "in.txt", "out.txt");
    if (x <= -1) printf ("ERROR: %s\n"), sed::errstr(x));
 }

Files

awk-lang.md

Latest commit

History

awk-lang.md

File metadata and controls

QSEAWK Language {#awk-lang}

Overview

Program Structure

Patter-Action Block Pairs

Note

@include

Note

Tokens

Comments

Reserved Words

Numbers

Strings

Regular Expressions

Note

Data Types

Note

User-defined Variables

Note

Built-in Variables

FS

Hashed Map

Note

User-defined Functions

Built-in Functions

Function Calls

Note

EXTENDED FUNCTIONS

Opeartors

TEQ operator

Grouped Expression

Commands

return

@reset

Note

@abort

Built-in I/O

getline

print

printf

close (io-name, what)

fflush (io-name)

setioattr (io-name, attr-name, attr-value)

getioattr (io-name, attr-name, attr-value)

Two-way Pipe

I/O Character Encoding

Modules

String

Directory

System

SED