Re: awk info page should mention how to do case/switch in awk

[Aharon Robbins]

Thanks for the note.

> File: gawk.info,  Node: Statements
> there should be a paragraph about "looking for a switch/case statement
> in awk?  Sorry, there is none.  The best way to get the same effect
> however, would be ...."

I've had this kind of report before.  The problem with trying to list
things that *aren't* in gawk is that it's an infinite set.  Looking for
Ada packages?  Nope.  What about calling functions through pointers? Nope.
What about perl's open_bottle_with_corkscrew() function?  Nope.
Ad infinitum.

It's not worth it.  If you've read the doc, and you didn't see it described,
it's not in the language.

> By the way, there it says
> "... highlights one of the greatest weaknesses in
> `awk', which is that it is very poor at manipulating single
> characters.

The newest version of the doc says "weaknesses in standard awk".

> By the way, is the actual answer just "if()else if()else if()..." or for(i in
> array)something something...?

if ... else if ...

> By the way, also the shell "shift" command for making $n = $n+1, also
> tell us how to do that in awk in the manual.

See above.  Awk isn't shell. You can delete arguments one at a time

        delete ARGV[i]

or write a loop to move them down one.  But the shell "shift" style
of programming really doesn't apply a lot in awk, more typically one
uses

        for (i = 1; i < ARGC; i++)
                do something with ARGV[i]

If you mean the fields, the same applies, although I suppose it's
pretty easy to accomplish the "throw the first one away" with:

        $1 = ""
        $0 = $0

Thanks,

Arnold