:Linux.com: SysAdmin to SysAdmin: Awk is Your Friend
Linux.com: SysAdmin to SysAdmin: Awk is Your Friend Jul 1, 2004, 07 :00 UTC (3 Talkback[s]) (7479 reads)
"The nice thing about humans is that they're at least somewhat predictable. Given the choice between having data randomly strewn about, and having it in some predictable pattern, humans will generally choose predictable patterns (Microsoft filesystem management issues notwithstanding). These patterns are what make awk, a pattern-matching programming language, a wonderful tool for systems administrators, database administrators, and even command-line junkies who use their box mainly for pleasure. The notion of being able to write a one-line command to do almost anything draws ever closer with awk in your tool belt..."