File: gawk.info,  Node: Intro Summary,  Prev: When,  Up: Getting Started

1.9 Summary
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   * Programs in 'awk' consist of PATTERN-ACTION pairs.

   * An ACTION without a PATTERN always runs.  The default ACTION for a
     pattern without one is '{ print $0 }'.

   * Use either 'awk 'PROGRAM' FILES' or 'awk -f PROGRAM-FILE FILES' to
     run 'awk'.

   * You may use the special '#!' header line to create 'awk' programs
     that are directly executable.

   * Comments in 'awk' programs start with '#' and continue to the end
     of the same line.

   * Be aware of quoting issues when writing 'awk' programs as part of a
     larger shell script (or MS-Windows batch file).

   * You may use backslash continuation to continue a source line.
     Lines are automatically continued after a comma, open brace,
     question mark, colon, '||', '&&', 'do', and 'else'.