On Sat, Jun 27, 2020 at 06:32:11AM -0600, Todd C. Miller wrote: > On Sat, 27 Jun 2020 06:50:39 +0100, Jason McIntyre wrote: > > > i'm not sure it reads better when we switch the emphasis from whitespace > > to FS. i think it's better that people see how it normally works, then > > the gories about FS. so i'd have kept the first part of the sentence, > > but maybe reworked the FS bit. > > I wasn't sure that was an improvement either. Does this seem better? > > - todd >
yes, i think this is better. ok by me. jmc > Index: usr.bin/awk/awk.1 > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/awk/awk.1,v > retrieving revision 1.54 > diff -u -p -u -r1.54 awk.1 > --- usr.bin/awk/awk.1 26 Jun 2020 21:50:06 -0000 1.54 > +++ usr.bin/awk/awk.1 27 Jun 2020 12:29:21 -0000 > @@ -130,26 +130,24 @@ and newlines are used as field separator > This is convenient when working with multi-line records. > .Pp > An input line is normally made up of fields separated by whitespace, > -or by the regular expression > -.Va FS . > +or by the value of the field separator > +.Va FS > +at the time the line is read. > The fields are denoted > .Va $1 , $2 , ... , > while > .Va $0 > refers to the entire line. > -If > .Va FS > -is null, the input line is split into one field per character. > -Lines are split into fields using the value of > +may be set to either a single character or a regular expression. > +As as special case, if > .Va FS > -at the time the line is read. > -Because of this, > +is a single space > +.Pq the default , > +fields will be split by one or more whitespace characters. > +If > .Va FS > -is usually set via the > -.Fl F > -option or inside of a > -.Ic BEGIN > -block. > +is null, the input line is split into one field per character. > .Pp > Normally, any number of blanks separate fields. > In order to set the field separator to a single blank, use the > @@ -171,6 +169,11 @@ as the field separator, use the > .Fl F > option with a value of > .Sq [t] . > +The field separator is usually set via the > +.Fl F > +option or from inside a > +.Ic BEGIN > +block so that it takes effect before the input is read. > .Pp > A pattern-action statement has the form: > .Pp > @@ -407,9 +410,9 @@ The name of the current input file. > .It Va FNR > Ordinal number of the current record in the current file. > .It Va FS > -Regular expression used to separate fields; also settable > -by option > -.Fl F Ar fs . > +Regular expression used to separate fields (default whitespace); > +also settable by option > +.Fl F Ar fs > .It Va NF > Number of fields in the current record. > .Va $NF >
