Re: using a variable to help define a regular expression

On 13 Mrz., 08:50, "tbh" <fem...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> "Lorenz" <loren...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>
> news:d3kht3hb2u1uef8n7s7fij7knbukkqkgqa@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > tbh wrote:
> >> =A0[...] gawk '(tolower($5) ~ ("^/"+base+"/")) {print $3,$5,$6}'
base=
=3D"f30"
>
> > you're missing at least a "-v" in front of the variable assignment on
> > the command line.

No. Both forms are possible to pass variables.

>
> > gawk -v base=3D"f30" ...
>
> thanks!
>
> did variable assignment used to work without the -v? (i'm sure I've used
> it...)

Yes, indeed.

Usually I prefer the -v form where the variables will be defined
already in the BEGIN block. In case I want to change variables
inbetween processing of any two files I use the latter form, e.g.

  awk '...' sep=3D"," fileA sep=3D";" fileB


Janis

>
> cheers, tbh